Social Policy in Ontario

The federal government is eyeing a new, national pharmacare program and will name departing Ontario Health Minister Eric Hoskins to lead the effort.

Hoskins, a doctor who was the key architect of the province’s OHIP+ providing free prescriptions for youth, announced Monday afternoon that he was stepping down as minister and MPP for St. Paul’s, effective immediately.

His appointment as pharmacare czar is expected to be announced as part of Tuesday’s federal budget.

Premier Kathleen Wynne named Helena Jaczek — also a physician — as his replacement at health, and Michael Coteau will take on her portfolio of community and social services along with his current duties as children and youth services minister and minister responsible for anti-racism.

“I am so grateful for the work Eric has done to continue improving Ontario’s world-class healthcare system to better support patients and their families,” Wynne said in a statement.

She called him “instrumental in making sure Ontario is leading the effort to expand our system with historic initiatives like OHIP+, which has made prescription drugs free for everyone under the age of 25. There is much more work to do and I know Eric will look forward to telling you about how he will be involved.”

Hoskins, a Rhodes scholar and former provincial leadership Liberal candidate, said “it has been a profound privilege to represent the residents of St. Paul’s, a diverse and vibrant community in the heart of Toronto. I have tried my best to serve them well these past eight years.”

He said “in leaving Queen’s Park, I am determined to continue building better healthcare for all Canadians.”

Canadian health economist Steve Morgan, one of the nation’s most outspoken pharmacare advocates, was thrilled to hear Hoskins is taking on the federal role.

“In politics in Canada, Eric Hoskins in particular has been the most ardent and most articulate champion of a universal pharmacare system,” said Morgan, a professor of health policy at the University of British Columbia who has for 25 years studied the concept of such a system and how it could actually reduce costs.

Morgan hopes Hoskins’ role is backed up with dollars and is looking forward to seeing what the budget allocates.

In recent weeks, federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh has tried to seize the initiative for pharmacare, too, calling on Ottawa to use revenues from an increased crackdown on tax havens to extend health care to cover prescription medication.

Delegates attending the party’s national convention in Ottawa this month then endorsed the plan, which Singh took as a rallying cry during his keynote address.

“People need a champion for better public health care. It’s not enough to defend it. We need to expand it. We must commit to pharmacare now,” Singh said at the time.

Pharmaceuticals cost Canadians an estimated $28.5 billion in 2015, according to a recent federal report. Most of that was covered under public insurance plans — $13.1 billion — and $10.7 billion under private insurance, but individual Canadians still shouldered a $4.7 billion burden.

Last year, the federal Parliamentary Budget Office estimated a national pharmacare program would cost the federal government $19.3 billion if implemented in 2015-16, rising to $22.6 billion in 2020-21.

But Canadians out-of-pocket spending on pharmaceuticals would decrease by an average of 90 per cent, the budget watchdog found, and the overall spending on drugs would decrease by $4 billion a year.

The federal Liberal government committed to analyzing budget office’s report last year, but has yet to announce further action.

Hoskins is among a number of high-profile Ontario cabinet ministers to announce they are bowing out of the provincial June election, including former deputy premier Deb Matthews and treasury board president Liz Sandals.

https://www.thestar.com/news/queenspark/2018/02/26/hoskins-steps-down-as-health-minister-to-head-national-pharmacare-strategy.html