N.L. needs ostomy supplies coverage
Re: Mary Shortall’s letter to the editor, “Pharmacare Announcement Good News for Everyone,” in The Telegram.
I am quite happy to see that the Federal NDP and Liberals have signed a Pharmacre agreement with contraceptive medications and supplies and diabetic insulin and diabetic-related drugs soon to be covered for all Canadians who require them.
Said Federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, on Feb. 27, 2024, “...It is unacceptable that nearly one in four Canadians had to split pills, skip doses, or can’t afford to renew or fill their prescriptions due to high costs. Everyone should have access to the medication they need using their health card, not their credit card.”
This agreement wouldn’t be possible if the Pierre Poilievre Conservatives were in power! When it comes to our public health-care system and our social safety net, the federal Tories’ and Alberta and Ontario Conservatives’ “cut and gut” austerity measures do not realize short-term savings will bring longterm costs.
As for the federal Liberals’ 30year Pharmacare promise, it took Canada’s NDP to push the Liberal minority government to finally implement this urgently needed and long overdue program.
Please note that the Pierre Polievre Conservatives oppose universal pharmcare.
Instead, the federal Tories have supported the status quo with the costly patchwork of federal and provincial drug benefits and private plans with approximately three million Canadians without any sort of drug coverage! So if you are a diabetic, for example, voting Conservative is a bad idea! A vote for Poilievre’s Conservatives is a vote against Pharmacare!
Now that Tommy Douglas, Ed Broadbent, Jack Layton, Thomas Mulcair, Jack Harris, Mary Shortall, Jagmeet Singh, and other New Democrat and Progressive Canadians and my dream of having a universal Pharmacare program is now becoming reality, it is time for my N.L. Liberal friends, especially Premier Andrew Furey, Health Minister Tom Osborne, Finance Minister Siobhan Coady, my MHA John Abbott, and others extend ostomy supplies coverage to ostomates of all ages who need assistance.
The province already provides some coverage in the NLPDP 65+ Seniors Plan, so why not include our children and young and middleaged adults with Ileostomies, colostomies and urostomies?
Edward Sawdon
St. John’s