Let’s work together to make pharmacare a reality: NDP MP Davies

In this minority Parliament, Canada’s New Democrats plan to push universal pharmacare to the top of the agenda. We are calling on all parties to help us fast-tack this long-overdue expansion of our public health-care system because Canadians cannot afford to wait. Today, one in five Canadians—some 7.5 million people—either has no drug coverage at all, or effectively has no coverage due to high deductibles and co-payments. As a result, nearly three million Canadians fail to take their medication as prescribed every year because they cannot afford it. This means that every day we delay implementing pharmacare, more Canadians will fall sick, and some will die, for want of access to prescription medicine. NDP MP Don Davies in a post QP scrum in 2018. Mr. Davies says the NDP will try to advance pharmacare legislation this session. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade In fact, a recent study from the Canadians Federation of Nurses Unions revealed that inadequate drug coverage in Canada leads to hundreds of avoidable, premature deaths annually. This includes up to 640 Canadians per year with ischemic heart disease, up to 420 working-age Canadians per year with diabetes, and up to 670 older working-age Canadians (55-64) per year from all causes. Moreover, Canadians consistently pay among the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs due to our current patchwork of more than 100 public and 100,000 private insurance plans. Prescription drug spending in Canada has increased every year since the Liberal government took office in 2015. Consequently, prescription drugs now represent the second largest category of spending in Canadian health care, surpassing spending on physician services—only hospitals cost more. Although Justin Trudeau campaigned on pharmacare last fall, his government has not committed to a single-payer system or a timeline for its implementation. In order to establish universal pharmacare across Canada, Parliament must pass enabling legislation and the federal government must negotiate transfers with the provinces and territories. And yet, the Trudeau government has remained silent on these foundational steps. Health Minister Patty Hajdu, pictured on Jan. 28, 2020, speaking to reporters in the West Block. The Liberal election platform referenced pharmacare, but did not take an explicit position on universal pharmacare. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade That’s why, immediately following the last election, the NDP began working to draft a legislative framework for the implementation of a universal, comprehensive and public pharmacare program. This will be the first private members’ bill that the New Democratic Caucus will be putting up for debate in this Parliament. Our legislation—the Canada Pharmacare Act—follows the recommendations set out by the Liberal-appointed Hoskins Advisory Council. Like the Canadian Health Act, it lays out the conditions and criteria that provinces and territories must meet in order to receive federal funding under the program. This includes things like tying federal funding to the core principles of public administration, comprehensiveness, universality, portability, and accessibility. In the spirit of cooperation, Jagmeet Singh has written to the Prime Minister and other opposition leaders soliciting their input on what they would like to see included or amended in our pharamcare legislation. However, as Dr. Eric Hoskins has noted, “none of this is going to work unless the provinces and territories genuinely believe and have confidence the federal government is a true partner.” Indeed, some provincial Premiers have expressed reluctance to discuss pharmacare for fear the federal government will leave them wanting with respect to funding. They are right to be cynical. After all, medicare began as an equal partnership with the federal government covering 50 per cent of health care costs. However, this funding commitment eroded substantially over the subsequent decades under both Liberal and Conservative governments. Most recently, the Trudeau government chose to preserve Stephen Harper’s cut to the Canada Health Transfer escalator. As a result, the current federal contribution to health care only accounts for 22 per cent of costs, and this share is set to decline even further in the coming years. Ginette Petitpas Taylor, former minister of health, and Dr. Eric Hoskins, chair of the Advisory Council on the Implementation of National Pharmacare, pictured on June 20, 2018. Mr. Davies said the NDP pharmacare bill draws much from the Hoskins Report. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade The Hoskins report was clear that implementing pharmacare will require sustained federal leadership, along with “long-term, adequate, secure and flexible” funding. In particular, the report calls for the federal government to cover any added costs the provinces and territories incur from the implementation of pharmacare. Although this funding would represent a significant new line item for the federal budget, it must be measured against the far greater savings that pharmacare would return to Canadians. According to the Hoskins report, pharmacare would reduce overall spending on prescription drugs in Canada by $5-billion per year. Businesses and employees would see their prescription drug costs reduced by $16.6-billion annually, while families will see their out of pocket drug costs reduced by $6.4-billion. On clinical, ethical, and economic grounds, universal public drug coverage has been recommended by national commissions, committees, and advisory councils dating as far back as the 1940s. After decades of deferral, we have a historic opportunity in this minority Parliament to finally deliver this vital program. It’s time to work together to make pharmacare a reality for all Canadians. NDP MP Don Davies, who represents Vancouver Kingsway, B.C., is his party's health critic. The Hill Times