Single-payer universal pharmacare will save Canadians billions, expand coverage to millions

In reaction to the Parliamentary Budgetary Officer’s (PBO) report on single-payer universal pharmacare, NDP Health Critic Don Davies issued the following statement:

“Every year, millions of Canadians are forced to go without their prescription medications because they can’t afford them. Thousands of people die preventable deaths across this country because they can’t access medication. And we consistently pay among the world’s highest drug prices due to our private patchwork approach to coverage.

This must change.

Thursday’s report from the PBO once again confirms that we can save billions, while extending comprehensive prescription drug coverage to every Canadian through a single-payer universal pharmacare system.

On clinical, ethical, and economic grounds, single-payer universal drug coverage has been recommended by royal commissions, committees, and advisory councils dating as far back as the 1940s. Most recently, the Liberal-appointed Hoskins Advisory Council provided the federal government with a detailed blueprint for this urgently needed program.

The Liberals must stop dragging their feet and finally deliver the legislative framework needed to build single-payer universal pharmacare in Canada. The 8 million Canadians who currently lack adequate drug coverage cannot afford to wait. People are already being squeezed by the sky rocking cost of living – and no one should be forced to skip their medication because they can’t afford it.

It's time to put people ahead of the profits of giant pharmaceutical companies.

New Democrats will continue to fight for single-payer universal pharmacare so that everyone in Canada can get the medication they need.”