In late February it was announced that the federal NDP and Liberals reached a deal on Pharmacare that would include single-payer coverage of contraceptives and diabetes medication and equipment. Bill C-64: An Act Respecting Pharmacare has now passed through the House of Commons and includes universal, single payer, first dollar coverage for these drugs and a plan to move forward with important initiatives such as bulk purchasing.
The next step is getting the bill through the Senate. It’s now on us to put the pressure on our members of the Senate to pass Bill C-64 into law so that the new program can get underway ASAP. We need to make it clear to them that Albertans want universal drug coverage, and we want to see action now!
You can use the Friends of Medicare's online tool to send an email to Alberta's members of the Senate to let them know why it is important to you that they support national, universal Pharmacare by quickly passing Bill C-64: An Act Respecting Pharmacare.
Background
Canada is the only country with a universal health care system that does not provide universal coverage of medically necessary prescriptions. More than 50 years after the idea of a national Pharmacare program was first proposed, we have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to finally bring to Canada a single payer national prescription drug plan.
We already have a roadmap to get there: in 2019, the final report from the Advisory Committee on Implementing National Pharmacare recommended a public, single-payer Pharmacare plan that offers comprehensive drug coverage to all Canadians to save money, make life more affordable, and improve health care for Canadians. They explicitly recommended against a fill-in-the-gaps approach, stating "it would do little to lower drug prices or create fairness or uniformity in access across the country."
Even though many NASA members enjoy pharmaceutical coverage through the benefits plan negotiated by NASA, there are still a number of reasons to support the call for a national Pharmacare program:
- Estimates are that employers would save on average $750 per employee per year in the costs of benefits with a national Pharmacare program. These savings could be diverted to increase compensation without impacting the university's bottom line.
- A comprehensive national Pharmacare program is estimated to save Canadians between $4 billion and $7 billion per year - money that could be reallocated to improve our strained health care system.
- 21% of Albertan households experience cost-related barriers to accessing their medications. A national Pharmacare program would mean pharmaceutical coverage even if you were to lose your job.