pharmacare

Friday April 8, 2022

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday April 8, 2022

Budget doesn’t address lessons learned during the pandemic, health groups say

March 23, 2022

After a pandemic that has left Canada’s health-care system buckling under the strain of staffing shortages and surgical backlogs, Thursday’s federal budget drew criticism from health groups, while committing billions to a national dental plan.

Dental care, a pillar of the governing agreement struck between the Liberals and New Democrats two weeks ago, emerged as the centrepiece of the federal government’s health-care spending. The government committed $5.3 billion over the next five years to launch the national program.

But urgency around the plight facing health-care workers in this country was absent from the budget, experts said.

“The big miss in this budget was providing care for Canadians. Everything from health care to long-term care to home care is in crisis,” said Armine Yalnizyan, an economist and an Atkinson Fellow on the Future of Workers. “There’s just no reference to the people that provide the care that are burning out and dropping out.”

December 24, 2021

The Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions (CFNU) has argued that COVID-19 exacerbated long-standing issues already slamming the health-care system. According to Statistics Canada, 70 per cent of health-care workers reported their mental health worsened during the public health crisis, with about 32,000 regulated nurse positions needing to be filled.

The federal government has estimated that the pandemic delayed approximately 700,000 surgeries and other medical procedures, leading to wait-lists and backlogs for medical care.

CFNU president Linda Silas said the budget largely ignores health-care workers, something she said came as a “surprise” given assurances from Ottawa that retaining and recruiting talent is a priority.

“We’ve been having meetings with every politician of every stripe, at every level of government, and everyone understands that we’re dealing with a health human resource crisis in this country,” Silas told the Star. “Those words and actions weren’t part of budget 2022.”

December 21, 2016

The budget also doesn’t offer additional top-ups in health-care transfer payments to provinces and territories.

The document instead repeats the commitment of a one-time top-up of $2 billion to the Canada Health Transfer to clear surgical backlogs. That falls short of the $6 billion the Liberals promised in their election platform to “immediately invest” in eliminating health system wait-lists.

Premiers have repeatedly called on Ottawa to increase its share of health-care costs from 22 per cent to 35 per cent — an additional $28 billion per year — with no strings attached.

The budget primarily addresses the crisis facing health-care workers by pledging $26.2 million over four years, starting in 2023, to increase the amount of forgivable student loans by 50 per cent. That would result in up to $30,000 in loan forgiveness for nurses and up to $60,000 for doctors working in rural or remote communities.

March 31, 2021

There is also a promise to give $115 million over five years to Canada’s foreign credential recognition program to allow up to 11,000 health-care professionals trained abroad to find work here.

Canadian Medical Association president Dr. Katharine Smart said Thursday’s budget signals that Ottawa has similar priorities to the health sector, “but it’s very clear that much, much more needs to be done to actually bring about that change, and the deep investments that are going to be needed.”

The Mental Health Commission of Canada, meanwhile, had hoped to see movement on the Liberals’$4.5 billion campaign pledge to set up permanent transfer payments to the provinces and territories for mental health. (The Toronto Star) 

 

Friday April 1, 2022

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday April 1, 2022

Minister of Everything must tell Liberals they can’t have it all

December 30, 2021

Ms. Freeland is now tasked with delivering a budget at a critical time for Canada: when the country is in the early yet unstable stages of pandemic recovery, when a war is being fought in Ukraine, when drought caused by climate change has affected domestic and global yields and when inflation in Canada and abroad is surging. Indeed, the country is now at a precarious financial moment, when it could use the steady hand of that minister it saw on Feb. 24, speaking with genuine conviction about a policy she believes in deeply. What it doesn’t need is a minister dressed in Liberal garb, selling a politically advantageous budget when Canada can’t endure any more risk.

Next week, Ms. Freeland will produce a budget that accounts for her government’s many spending promises – and the new spending promises inherited through the supply-and-confidence agreement with the NDP, plus a likely increase in defence spending – while somehow also reassuring capital markets and stimulating long-term growth. This government has never been shy about spending beyond its means, and it has done so every year far beyond projections, while citing low interest rates and an ill-defined need to “invest” in the economy. The pandemic, of course, necessitated emergency spending on a record scale, although Canada’s trillion-dollar debt and projected deficits over the coming years now mean the country is staring down hefty financing costs: $43.5-billion in 2025-26, to cite one figure from a recent Parliamentary Budget Officer report. For context, the government is spending less than that to settle a years-long dispute over compensation for Indigenous children.

September 22, 2021

With the economy now recovering (GDP growth in the fourth quarter of 2021 exceeded the forecast rate, and the unemployment rate is down to prepandemic levels), the time for runaway, short-term spending is over, and indeed it risks exacerbating inflationary pressures. Interest rates are going up, and Canada’s debt-to-GDP ratio is projected to be 48 per cent for 2021-22 (up from 31.2 per cent in 2019-20), which means the government has far less room to manoeuvre should it get hit with another crisis. The Liberal Party’s impulse may be to continue to promise everything – Child care! Dental care! Fighter jets! Green retrofits! Rapid housing! – and to leave the bill for some future government to sort out, which is why Canada depends on Ms. Freeland now to make some tough calls and bring the budget down to earth. (The Globe & Mail) 

 

Friday September 3, 2021

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday September 3, 2021

Pharmacare AWOL in 2021

June 13, 2019

Nearly a quarter century ago, the federal government hosted a conference on national pharmacare in Saskatoon – the birthplace of Canadian medicare. The meeting was extraordinarily frustrating to delegates who anticipated action, not talk, at the time.

We know because we were there.

You see, that Saskatoon meeting was held on the heels of Prime Minister Chrétien’s 1997 National Forum on Health. Echoing previous national commissions, the forum recommended the implementation of a universal, comprehensive, public pharmacare program to work alongside Canadian medicare.

April 22, 2021

Yet, there we were, an audience of approximately 300 health professionals, experts, public representatives and stakeholders gathered to “engage in dialogue” on an issue that already had a very clear answer.

The national pharmacare system recommended would have reduced Canadian drug costs dramatically, meaning savings for governments, businesses and households. More Canadians would have access to medicines because they would be fully covered, but manufacturers would no longer be able to charge more in Canada than they did in comparable countries.

October 21, 2016

Drug companies preferred that Canada adopt a system of mandatory private insurance based on the model they had just convinced the Quebec government to implement in 1997 — at great cost to Quebec households and businesses. Insurers favoured the Quebec model too – what industry wouldn’t want people to be legally required to purchase their products without regulations on profit margins?

In 2019, the Liberals campaigned on a promise to act on pharmacare plan. Such a national pharmacare system was mentioned in the 2020 Throne Speech, Budget 2021 and 2021 mandate letters. But there has been little concrete action toward implementation.

Instead, the federal government has reverted yet again to “stakeholder engagement,” rather than policy action. (Red Deer Advocate) 

 

Thursday April 22, 2021

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday April 22, 2021

Government Tall on ideas, short on attention span

Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland’s expansive budget mentions a “pipeline for vaccines,” a “talent pipeline,” an “innovation pipeline,” and a “pipeline of personal protective equipment.” But there is not a single mention of a pipeline that delivers oil or gas.

June 13, 2019

Along with a lack of concern for workers in the oil-and-gas industry, the budget undersells defence priorities. And the Liberal pledge to move toward a national pharmacare program is, to put it charitably, unconvincing.

The budget, in other words, tells us what Liberals do care about, but also what they don’t.

The Liberals’ 2019 election manifesto promised “to take the crucial next steps to implement national universal pharmacare,” while last September’s Throne Speech declared “the government remains committed to a national, universal pharmacare program and will accelerate steps to achieve this system.”

March 6, 2018

But the budget, while repeating its commitment to a national pharmacare program, offers no new funding for it. There is simply the previously announced $500-million to assist provinces in support of those forced to pay extremely high prices for drugs needed to combat rare diseases.

The Liberals could respond that their ambitious new child-care program makes it impossible to move on pharmacare right now. And it would be a fair defence. A national $10-a-day child care program would be a major new commitment and a major federal expense, at $8-billion a year.

December 21, 2016

Before committing to it, however, provincial governments might wish to remember previous programs, especially in health care and housing, in which Ottawa seduced the provinces into joining on an equal shared-cost basis, only to later withdraw funding when some shiny new public policy bauble came along, leaving the provinces holding the fiscal bag.

This budget offers billions to accelerate progress toward a strategy to reach net zero carbon emissions and to help green-tech businesses scale up. There are major tax breaks for companies that invest in green technologies.

But while future tax breaks are promised for industries that deploy carbon-capture technology, the commitment is vague and based on future consultations and legislation. The budget appears determined to ignore the reality that natural resources, and in particular the oil and gas sector, are crucial both to this country’s economic future and to fighting climate change.

November 17, 2015

National defence is another area singled out for neglect. When Mr. Biden met Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in February, both leaders committed to modernizing the North American Aerospace Defence Command. But the budget allocates a paltry $50-million a year or so for five years as Canada’s commitment to a modernizing program, a tiny fraction of the many billions of dollars that defence experts estimate it would cost to install the satellites, radar and other technologies needed to detect hypersonic missiles and other new weapons that the Russians and the Chinese possess or are developing.

Whatever happens on the child care front, the budget’s virtual silence on pharmacare suggests that program, like NORAD and oil and gas, is something this government doesn’t plan on spending real time and money on any time soon. (Globe & Mail) 

 

Thursday June 13, 2019

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday June 13, 2019

Advisory council calls for $15B universal, single-payer pharmacare plan

An advisory council appointed by the Liberal government is recommending the establishment of a universal, single-payer public pharmacare system.

The council’s 171-page report, released Wednesday, calls for the creation of a new drug agency that would draft a national list of prescription medicines that would be covered by the taxpayer, beginning with an initial list of common and essential drugs, by Jan. 1, 2022.

The council recommends that initial list be expanded to a comprehensive plan by Jan. 2, 2027. When fully implemented, the total cost would be $15 billion a year.

Dr. Eric Hoskins, a former Ontario health minister and chair of the advisory council, acknowledged there are “significant incremental costs” to building pharmacare, but he noted that those costs are already being picked up by Canadians.

“We are confident that the implementation plan that we have put forward is one that meets the objectives and requirements that were handed to the council, of creating a program and implementation plan that is fair and sustainable and accessible to Canadians,” he said.

The council proposes a $2 co-payment for common drugs and $5 for less common ones. The fee would be waived for Canadians on social assistance or with low incomes.

The council spent the last year studying various pharmacare models and hearing from more than 32,000 Canadians and organizations sharing their views online and through letters, written submissions and meetings across the country.

Hoskins said it’s time to show “courage and boldness” and to do “some nation building” on a project that would benefit Canadians in “unimaginable ways.” (CBC)