TRUDEAU REFUSES TO PURSUE UNIVERSAL PHARMACARE DESPITE LIVES LOST, BILLIONS IN SAVINGS

[Surrealistik]

Trudeau refuses to pursue universal pharmacare despite lives lost, billions in savings

Health Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor refuses to save lives and billions of dollars by implementing – or even being willing to discuss with the provinces – pharmacare. The Counc…

canadians.org

The PBO says pharmacare would save at least $4 billion a year
On September 27, 2016, the Committee requested that the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) estimate the cost of implementing pharmacare. That report was released on September 28, 2017. The Canadian Press reports, "A national, universal pharmacare program that all but eliminates all out-of-pocket expenses for Canadians who need to fill their prescriptions could slash the overall price tag for drugs in this country by more than $4 billion a year. ...The savings would come largely from the impact of bulk purchases of drugs, allowing Health Canada to negotiate better prices for most pharmaceuticals, as well as an increase in the use of generic drugs."

The article adds, "The government will analyze the report, but the current system needs work as it is before anything can be done about moving to a universal program, Bill Blair, the parliamentary secretary to the minister of health, said [on September 28] in question period. ...Provinces, for whom prescriptions have become the second-most costly part of the health budget, have been pushing Ottawa for a national pharmacare program. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has not committed to the idea. He has directed his health minister only to work with the provinces to increase bulk buying of drugs in order to cut costs."

Pharmacare could save $11 billion a year
The Toronto Star editorial board has written, "Various studies have pegged Canada-wide savings from national pharmacare at between $4 billion and $11 billion per year, depending on how the program is structured. That’s based on savings seen internationally. Canada is, in fact, the only country with a universal health care system that doesn’t also cover the cost of prescription medicine. Administration costs represent another burden. ...Every public and private drug plan operating in this country spends money on revenue collection, claims management and other bureaucratic functions. Savings from ending this duplication alone were valued at between $1 billion and $2 billion."

Why did the PBO study peg savings at $4 billion? The Canadian Health Coalition explains, "The PBO was mandated to use the Quebec drug formulary to price out the cost of offering every resident of Canada access to medicines. ...Quebec does not take advantage of the economies of scale by having the government purchase medicine on behalf of its whole population, nor does Quebec receive the low prices on medicine that a national public program could offer because of the difference in provincial and national economies of scale. Any plan costed using the Quebec model would be a worst-case scenario..."

Sadly unsurprising. First Trudeau defies overwhelming supermajority public opinion, including from his own party, and even the Conservative party ( ), by unanimously voting against a modest wealth tax on the very rich, then he and his party subsequently vote down a Pharmacare plan that would have resulted in considerable savings for what I can only assume is the sake of pharmaceutical industry donors; a proposal which also had overwhelming supermajority public support: https://www.heartandstroke.ca/what-...l-reveals-overwhelming-support-for-pharmacare | https://www.heartandstroke.ca/articles/why-canada-needs-pharmacare

This is yet another intolerably open and naked dismissal of the public will, and an abdication of Trudeau's responsibility to represent the people of Canada.

Between this and his scandals the man is clearly not fit to govern, nor is his Conservative counterpart who would be even worse.