National Post (National Edition)
Pharmacare adviser rolls out interim report
Denies event is smoke screen for SNC affair
Dr. Eric Hoskins, head of a Liberal advisory council on pharmacare, denied he was being used as a human shield Wednesday to deflect attention away from the Snc-lavalin affair when he released an interim report Wednesday a mere eight pages long.
Flanked by Finance Minister Bill Morneau and Health Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor at a Toronto press conference, Hoskins said he wasn’t being used as a distraction to the situation unfolding on Parliament Hill, where Gerald Butts, former principal secretary to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, was preparing to appear before the House of Commons justice committee about allegations that he inappropriately pressured former attorney-general Jody Wilson-raybould to prevent Snc-lavalin from being prosecuted in a bribery case.
Hoskins said his panel was mandated to release an interim report, and that Wednesday’s release had been weeks in the making.
“Quite some time ago, a number of weeks ago, if not more than a month, we set out a path (that we) would arrive here on this day,” Hoskins told reporters.
“There are other things happening today, but it was always the intention for the three of us to meet.”
In a later interview with National Post, Hoskins, a former Ontario health minister, said he saw Wednesday’s release as a “great opportunity to share with Canadians where we are at with our thinking on the interim report.
“I’m a former politician myself, and I know that things often sort of happen by coincidence on the same day as you plan an announcement,” he said.
The slim report makes three recommendations Hoskins described as “foundational” to pharmacare: a new national drug agency, a national formulary, or list of prescribed drugs that should be available to every Canadian, and an investment in a robust drug data and IT system capable of tracking prescriptions from the doctor’s office to the pharmacy.
All three are essential components “that must underpin any successful pharmacare program,” the interim report reads.
However, the update is silent on two major questions, such as what model of pharmacare — a single payer system, or a combination private/public system — and who is going to pay for it.
Hoskins’ committee is to publish its final report in the spring, but it is unclear whether it will arrive before the budget, expected to land March 19.
Among other functions, a national drug agency would be responsible for developing a national formulary that would harmonize drug coverage across Canada.
One in five Canadians — as many as 7.5 million people — are uninsured, or underinsured, and those who can pay face some of the highest drug costs among OECD nations.
Petitpas Taylor said more than one million Canadians have to make the “wrenching” decision between pay-
WHERE WE ARE AT WITH OUR THINKING ON THE INTERIM REPORT.
ing for prescription drugs and heating their homes or putting food on the table.
Morneau has signalled new prescription drug coverage will be included in the spring budget, which will land just months away from the next election in October.
Prescription drug spending in Canada has ballooned from $2.6 billion in 1985, to $34 billion in 2018, and is anticipated to grow to more than $50 billion by 2028.
The advisory council received more than 150 written submissions and more than 15,000 responses to its online questionnaire. Hoskins said the consultation process has been “eyeopening” and the messages heard “loud and clear” — that the current patchwork system of drug coverage in Canada is “inadequate, unsustainable and leaves too many Canadians behind.”
Morneau said that he wasn’t “going to announce the budget here this morning,” but that the Liberals are “very much looking forward to the final report.”