SAINT ANDREWS, NEW BRUNSWICK — With more than 100 different public drug plans available across Canada, including Ontario’s recently scaled-back OHIP+, one challenge for a countrywide pharmacare program will be finding agreement on which one will work best, says Eric Hoskins.
Hoskins, the former Ontario health minister who helped usher in OHIP+ and is now in charge of developing a national plan, spoke to Canada’s premiers on Friday about the issue, the same day his advisory council launched wider public consultations online.
“There’s tremendous diversity” out there, he said, noting there are also more than 100,000 private drug plans in the country. A national pharmacare program will offer “the ability to have consistency across the country, so that a child in Ontario can expect to receive the same access to prescribed medications as a child in New Brunswick or in British Columbia or in the Northwest Territories,” he told reporters after the breakfast meeting at the picturesque Algonquin Resort.
“Changes are being made almost every day at the provincial and territorial level … (as they) try to improve access. We are trying to build consensus … so your access isn’t dependent on your postal code.”
Hoskins was joined by Linda Silas, president of the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions. Eight of 13 premiers attended the Friday morning session; Doug Ford was not among them.
Hoskins said premiers who didn’t make it sent senior staff, and noted that he just last week met with Ontario Health Minister Christine Elliott.
The big question premiers have is about a national pharmacare program is how much it will cost and the cost-sharing arrangement, both of which are still being worked out, he said.
Hoskins said a “blueprint” with full details on the model and pricing will be ready next spring.
Billions of dollars are wasted each year given the competing plans, he said, and a federal plan would see lower costs through efficiencies like bulk purchasing.
Currently, Canada spends the most per capita on prescriptions after Switzerland and the U.S.
“We pay between 30 to 40 per cent higher than the other OECD (developed) countries pay,” Hoskins said. “Part of the reason is that we have such a diverse number of purchasers.”
Silas said the nurses first spoke to the premiers’ Council of the Federation, which represents all 13 provincial and territorial leaders, at their meeting back in 2004, where a national pharmacare plan received unanimous support. That happened again last year at their meeting in Edmonton, she noted.
“They all support reforming the system,” she said. “They see it in their budget. We pay more for prescription drugs in this country than we pay for doctors. One in four families cannot afford prescription drugs.”
But the provinces do want to know “who is going to pay for the transformation, and how is the pie going to be divided after that?”
Hoskins agreed.
“It’s very important to provinces and territories that the federal commitment is there, it’s substantial, and that provinces and territories have confidence in that cost-sharing and that federal contribution, and that federal contribution will be there today and also into the future.”
Prescription drugs cost Canadians almost $30 billion a year, with all but about $4 billion covered by public or private plans.
Ontario’s OHIP+ plan was introduced by the former Liberal government to provide free prescriptions for residents up to the age of 25. It came into place at the start of the year, and sees an estimated 1 million prescriptions filled each month.
At the start of this month, the newly elected Progressive Conservative government announced it would cover only prescriptions for children who are not covered by private plans.
Kristin Rushowy is a Toronto-based reporter covering Ontario politics. Follow her on Twitter: @krushowy
https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2018/07/20/national-pharmacare-blueprint-will-be-unveiled-next-spring.html
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