Pharmacare announcement good news for everyone

Allow me to celebrate the recent pharmacare announcement. As a long-time NDP party member and current party president, it is exciting to see the House of Commons begin debate on a bill that would provide a foundation for the long-promised pharmacare program. It is a fundamental belief of New Democrats that access to prescribed medications should require your health card, not your credit card.

Nearly one in four Canadians have reported splitting pills, skipping doses, or deciding not to renew or fill their prescriptions due to high costs.

The consequence being too many people are jeopardizing their well-being and sacrificing their quality of life. We know that Canadians who cannot afford medicines visit emergency rooms more often and are hospitalized more frequently — costing our health system billions of dollars every year. Here the adage, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” seems most appropriate.

The framework legislation is important because the governing Liberals are now committed to a single-payer, public pharmacare program. As a first step the focus will be on providing free contraceptives and diabetes drugs to those who require them. The result will be to keep more money in Canadians’ pockets and help stabilize public health-care costs.

On Sunday, March 3, CBC’S Cross-country Checkup discussed pharmacare. It was clear from the many callers that when they or a loved one were burdened by a debilitating illness, they were having a difficult time navigating our current patchwork system. Despite our multiple public and private health plans too many Canadians are hurting because of limited prescription drug coverage. Caller after caller emphasized that access to medicine should be based on need, not on the ability to pay.

The 2019 Advisory Council

on the Implementation of National Pharmacare report, chaired by Dr. Eric Hoskins, concluded that the most effective model that offers the greatest savings to both the health care system and taxpayers — is a public system where the added costs of pharmacare are paid for by the federal government. The government as a singlepayer has the purchasing power to negotiate the lowest drug prices for all Canadians.

The Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO) estimates single-payer pharmacare will significantly reduce over-all drug spending through bulk purchasing.

We have a long way yet to go before we secure a national, universal pharmacare program. Last week’s announcement is but the start but let us be guided by what Tommy Douglas, the father of Canada’s public healthcare system, once said, “I came to believe that health services ought not to have a price tag on them, and that people should be able to get whatever health services they required irrespective of their individual capacity to pay.”

Mary Shortall

NDP candidate —

St. John’s East