A Commentary by Niagara At Large publisher Doug Draper
A recent headline on the front page of the business section of The Globe and Mail read; $29 Billion And Climbing’.
The headline was calling attention to the escalating costs Canadians are paying each year for pharmaceutical drugs- costs that are becoming unaffordable to growing numbers of us.
“The annual cost of prescription drugs hit near $29-billion last year – and that number is on the rise,” reads an introduction to the article under the headline. “As more Canadians seek more medication, a patchwork system of pharmaceutical coverage is under pressure.”
There is an answer to this looming crisis that threatens to bankrupt what private and public drug insurance plans are around and place an impossible burden on individuals and families that don’t have drub benefits. It is called pharmacare and several studies – the most recent one published earlier this 2015 in the Canadian Medical Association Journal – could save (not cost) Canadians somewhere between $4 billion and $11 billion a year!
Yet the only federal party in the country that has made a universal drug program (as in incorporating it into our existing universal health plan) part of its election platform is the Green Party.
The Liberals and the NDP are offering up the usual platter of more funding for acute and long-term care, and growing the ranks of family physicians. But nothing about promising to put in place a universal drug program that every other country in the world that has universal health coverage, including Great Britain, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany and Australia, already has in place for their citizens.
Harper’s Conservative government has had 10 years to put a pharmacare program in place and it is understandable why it hasn’t. It is impossible to believe that this bunch, which has so obviously sold out to special interests in petro-chemical industry, would want to do anything to upset a status quo that allows a big and power pharmaceutal industry to go on fleecing the hell out of us.
But with polls showing that health care is a major concern for Canadians and that a majority would welcome universal drug coverage, what is wrong with the Liberals and NDP? You would think adding pharmacare to their platform would be a given. Are they rolling over for the lobbyists in the pharmaceutical industry too?
Maybe one or both of parties will surprise us and their support for a universal drug program before the October 19th vote but I wouldn’t count on it.
Far better that all of us out there who want Canada to join other first-world countries in providing pharmacare to call candidates in our ridings now or let them know when they knock on our door that they better include it in their list of promises if they want our vote.
This federal election may be the last best chance we have to stand up and demand universal drug coverage. Once the election is over it will be too late.
All we will have left is the pharmaceutical industry quite literally gouging us to death.
For more information click on the following CBC National segment from August 20th that has a panel of Canadian physicians discussing this and related topics –
http://www.cbc.ca/player/News/TV%20Shows/The%20National/ID/2674102523/ .
Also click on – http://www.cmaj.ca/content/early/2015/03/16/cmaj.141564 – http://pharmacare2020.ca/ and – http://pharmacarenow.ca/learn-more/the-case-for-pharmacare .
Visit Niagara At Large at www.niagaraatlarge.com for more news and commentary.
(NOW IT IS YOUR TURN. Niagara At Large encourages you to share your views on this post. A reminder that we only post comments by individuals who share their first and last name with them.)
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There was a long discussion last evening on the CBC about this very topic including a cardiologist, diabetes specialist, gerontologist and another whose specialty I cannot recall. They commented that one of the highest causes of COSTLY hospital admissions was due to folks who could not afford their prescriptions so they simply omitted them or cut them in half resulting in poor control of their disease. As a result they ended up hospitalized and costing the system much more than a prescription would have. The savings resulting from a Pharmacare plan would be in the billions according to these doctors at a time when the government is nickel and diming our services to death to save money. There’s a big cost saver staring them in the face. As the old adage goes, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. It is also much less costly. I was amazed at the statistic that came up stating one third of all Canadians over 65 are diabetic! I was also surprised by the fact that, as you have stated Doug, Canada is the only country with Universal Health care that does not have a drug system in place. I can’t believe the politicians have ignored such a big elephant in the room that could sway an election.
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Once again Thank You Linda ….Tommy Douglas was a Baptist Minister who was in many ways very much like Jimmy Carter… He truly cared ….That Canada’s Universal Health Care was enacted went against the very adamant fighting and rantings of Colin Brown (National Citizens Coalition) Stephen Harper became a disciple of Brown and adopted the ideological that agenda ……… The “Elimination of Health Care and the Elimination of the Canadian Wheat Board”
The elimination of the Wheat Board happened a couple of years ago and when the farmers realized they made a mistake they attempted to buy back the Wheat Board…BUT Harper did not allow that …..It was sold to foreign Interests…..Amen
Our Universal Health Care……..Next on the agenda? Well it is known that HARPER if re-elected will cut $36,000,000,000 from the Health Transfers to the provinces…Literally Eliminating UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE..
PHARMACARE will NOT be on the list of things to do if HARPER is re-elected and I imagine the National Citizen Coalition will be out in full force, with all those who support PRIVATIZATION supplying money and lies. It is you and your families whose future is on the line….
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It is privatization and unfettered capitalism for those of us at the bottom with socialism and continued corporate welfare and reduced taxes (to zero for some) for the wealthy in this country. It is time our citizens fight back and take back our country before it is too late. A clue about Harper’s position on health care is that he let the Health Care Accord expire without even attempting to work on a new one with the provinces and not even ONCE did Harper’s government enforce the Canada Health Act, even when very clear violations of the Canada Health Act were carried out by any of the provinces. I don’t know about you, but I can’t afford to pay any more out of pocket for anything.
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Bring on the marijuana and forget about the addictive, destructive pills of the mega-billions pharmaceutical industry. Alcohol is big money, and big medical and criminology bills, involving a massive drain on society. It’s high time for a revolution. Go green, indeed.
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