Pharmacare Town Hall Meeting
The KW Chapter of the Council of Canadians hosted a Pharmacare Town Hall Meeting in Waterloo this week. The discussion was moderated by Ron Ward, and featured University of Waterloo School of Pharmacy Assistant Professor Dr. Sherilyn Houle, Catherine Fife Waterloo’s NDP MPP, and the Green Party’s Stacey Danckert
What Is Pharmacare?
Pharmacare is a government program that ensures all citizens have access to the medicine their doctor prescribes.
Of all the countries that provide citizens with Universal Health Care, Canada is the only one that doesn’t have Universal Pharmacare. At the
In 2014, Dr. Eric Hoskins ~ Ontario’s Liberal Minister of Health and Long-Term Care ~ wrote an OpEd for the Globe and Mail explaining Why Canada needs a national pharmacare program
It has been estimated that Universal public drug coverage would:
- reduce total spending on prescription drugs in Canada by $7.3 billion
- save the Private Sector $8.2 billion
- increase costs to government $1.0 billion
A Mowat Centre study published by Lindsay Handren in in 2015 goes even further:
“Overall, it estimates a universal pharmacare plan would save up to $11.4 billion a year, with $1 billion of that saved just by no longer duplicating administrative costs in the current “patchwork” system.”
However, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s federal Liberal Government have more important things to worry about than the health of its citizens, so the Ontario Liberals Government has stepped up to the plate with an intention to add publicly funded pharmacare coverage for children and youth ~ adding to the patchwork system.
“Because Ontario is adding universal, comprehensive pharmacare coverage to the age group that uses medicines least often. Many working-age Ontarians, who are far more likely to require medicines than children, will still be uninsured.”
— Why a universal pharmacare plan makes sense — now
I’ll be editing the video from the town hall discussion soon.
