Big Pharma is right, pharmacare WOULD be a radical change – for the better
- Details
- Published on Sunday, 29 November -0001 16:00
- Written by editor
Dear friend,
Inflation is pushing Canadians to the brink, leading millions to cut back on basic necessities of life – including medications.
While Big Pharma’s defenders insist that pharmacare is a dangerously radical pipedream, the reality is just the opposite. Every other country with a robust public health system covers medications; Canada is the only one who doesn’t. The most shocking part is that we have a plan – the Hoskins report1 – that lays out in great detail how we could bring down high drug prices and ensure everyone is covered.
We need to let the Trudeau government and our elected representatives know that pharmacare can’t wait. We need it, and we need it now.
Under pressure from industry lobbyists, the Trudeau government left the Hoskins report sitting on the shelf for two years and quietly backed away from its pharmacare promises. Thankfully, the Liberal-NDP supply-and-confidence deal has put pharmacare back on the political agenda after Big Pharma lobbying nearly killed it off. The Liberals must pass a Canada Pharmacare Act before the end of 2023, or risk an election.
The cost-of-living crisis has made the urgency of implementing pharmacare that much clearer. The next six to twelve months may represent our last-best chance to contain out-of-control drug costs, while expanding our public health care system to cover essential medicines.
Pharmacare may be back on the political agenda, but it is far from a done deal. Seizing the political moment will require a significant push from pharmacare’s proponents to get Hoskins’ vision of a universal, single-payer public drug insurance over the finish line – something the Council of Canadians and its allies are hard at work on.
With hope and resolve,Nik Barry-Shaw
Trade and Privatization Campaigner
r71 | Add us to your address book
Copyright © 2022 Council of Canadians, All rights reserved.You are receiving this email because you opted in via our website, one of our campaigns, or at one of our events.
1-800-387-7177
Council of Canadians200-240 Bank StOttawa, ON K2P 1X4 Canada
r34.
