The way pharmacare is implemented could contribute to the Canadian health insurance system’s transition toward a more contentious and unequal American-style system with heavy administrative burdens.
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Articles on Pharmacare
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New federal pharmacare legislation is an important opportunity to give all Canadian women access to effective contraception and realize the right to reproductive health.
The supply-and-confidence agreement between the Liberals and NDP has helped both parties develop and take credit for the expansion of social policies across Canada. But is it on life support?
A national procurement program for essential medicines could provide a principled, evidence-based solution to the current challenges facing a national pharmacare program in Canada.
Pharmaceutical and insurance industries that could lose profit through lower drug prices are not happy that a pharmacare bill is planned for fall. They are speaking out and mobilizing their allies.
Changes to Canada’s Patented Medicine Prices Review Board regulations have been postponed for a fourth time in two years as Canadians continue to pay some of the highest drug prices in the world.
Canada’s lack of pharmacare harms health in our communities, strains our health-care system and encumbers our economy. Parliament is out of excuses for not implementing a national drug plan.
Any pharmacare plan that aims to remove financial barriers to treatment and eliminate inequities should prioritize those who face the highest out-of-pocket drug costs, such as people with disabilities.
The speech from the throne is just around the corner. Will the Liberal government make broad and much-needed economic and social change amid the pandemic, or will it give in to the wealthy again?
Toilet paper shortages were bad enough. A shortage of drugs during the COVID-19 pandemic would be worse. A provision in the Canadian government’s relief package aims to prevent that from happening.
To implement pharmacare, the Liberals will need to negotiate with the provinces, and the mostly Conservative premiers are unlikely to make this easy. The insurance industry also has much to lose.
The election results could mean a national pharmacare program will happen, albeit slowly. Canadians can also expect more safe injection sites and money invested in the opioid crisis.
The 1964 report that paved the way for Canada’s medicare envisaged that after universal coverage for doctors, the next step would be prescription drugs. But that next step hasn’t come.
Some Canadians go without heat and food to buy their medications. Others simply don’t take them because they can’t afford to. This is why we need a national pharmacare plan.
A new agency and money for drugs for rare diseases are only very partial steps on the road towards what Canada really needs: a national pharmacare plan.
It takes about three years for safety problems to be identified in new drugs, newer drugs are almost always more expensive, and yet Canadian doctors still hand out hundreds of thousands of samples.
Two community pharmacists suggest a way for improving the palatability of evidence-based universal pharmacare – for those working in health insurance, pharmacy and the pharmaceutical industry.
The ongoing NAFTA renegotiations could put a Canadian national pharmacare program in jeopardy, and have a particular impact on Canadians who need expensive arthritis drugs. Here’s how.
As Canadians consider possibilities for pharmacare reform in the coming months, they should have access to the best available evidence about how it might work in our country.
The cost of a life-saving drug in Canada is rising by 3,000 per cent. A national pharmacare plan could bring order to this chaotic world of Canadian drug prices.
Top contributors
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Joel Lexchin is a Friend of The Conversation.Professor Emeritus of Health Policy and Management, York University, Canada
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Associate Professor, Political Science, McMaster University
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Professor, School of Rehabilitation Therapy, Queen's University, Ontario
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Research Coordinator, Centre for Health Services and Policy Research and School of Rehabilitation Therapy, Queen's University, Ontario
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Professor, School of Population and Public Health, University of British Columbia
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Assistant Professor, Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of Toronto
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Canada Research Chair in Health Justice, University of Toronto
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Professor, Department of History, University of Guelph
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Associate Professor, Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy, University of Regina
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PhD Candidate (Epidemiology), University of Toronto
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Assistant Professor of Pharmacy, University of Waterloo
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PhD Student, Political Science, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa
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Professor, Political Science, McGill University
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Senior Instructor, University of Manitoba
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Adjunct Professor, Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change, York University, Canada
