Posts Tagged ‘pharmaceutical’
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If a mine is a nation-building project, why not universal pharmacare? Inside the big push to get Mark Carney behind it
Monday, October 27th, 2025
The type of pharmacare most advocates want to see the policy evolve into is a universal, single-payer model, where governments would foot the majority of prescription drug costs for all Canadians… tens of billions of dollars Canada shells out on prescription medications annually would be better spent within the country’s borders, bolstering domestic production capacity… The gaps exposed by COVID-19 — the procurement chaos, supply chain woes, equipment shortages and expiring oversupply — make some believe pharmacare holds the potential to strengthen Canada’s autonomy and security, too.
Tags: budget, economy, featured, Health, ideology, jurisdiction, participation, pharmaceutical, standard of living
Posted in Health Debates | No Comments »
Health advocates call on Liberals to keep pharmacare promise ahead of budget
Tuesday, September 23rd, 2025
Health Minister Marjorie Michel and Carney’s office declined to commit to signing more pharmacare deals over the summer, and promised only to protect what was in place… The law requires the national drug agency to develop a list of essential drugs for a national formulary and to work on a national bulk-purchasing strategy to bring prices down.
Tags: budget, Health, pharmaceutical, privatization
Posted in Health Debates | No Comments »
Targeted Pharmacare Reforms Could Deliver Access Without a $40 Billion Price Tag
Thursday, September 18th, 2025
With 97 percent of Canadians already having access to some form of drug coverage, a new Conference Report by the C.D. Howe Institute finds that a fiscally responsible approach to universal pharmacare should focus on closing gaps in prescription drug coverage rather than replacing plans with a single-payer system.
Tags: budget, Health, participation, pharmaceutical, privatization
Posted in Health Debates | No Comments »
Mark Carney says he’ll make pharmacare deals with provinces, but won’t commit to expanding their coverage
Friday, September 12th, 2025
… “Ottawa has been dealing with a spate of new priorities since the beginning of the year, and [Dr. Eric Hoskins] understands why Carney is taking an “incremental” approach… the last thing anyone would have wanted is to create an even more patchwork program of diabetic medications and contraception, where you’ve got a handful of provinces and territories that have it, and others that don’t.”
Tags: budget, Health, jurisdiction, pharmaceutical, women
Posted in Health Policy Context | 8 Comments »
Ending vaccine mandates is a cynical political play – and it threatens children’s lives
Wednesday, September 10th, 2025
Only two jurisdictions – Ontario and New Brunswick – have legislated mandatory vaccine requirements for attendance at schools and daycares, but they allow medical, religious and philosophical exemptions. We make vaccine recommendations (which, for no good reason vary by province and territory) and expect parents to do the right thing for their own child and others.
Tags: Health, ideology, jurisdiction, participation, pharmaceutical, rights
Posted in Child & Family Policy Context | No Comments »
How Donald Trump’s tariffs threaten Canadians’ access to prescription drugs
Friday, May 9th, 2025
Thirty-two per cent of the active pharmaceutical ingredients that go into the medicines that North Americans take originate in China. U.S President Donald Trump has now threatened to slap U.S. tariffs on Chinese drugs and drug ingredients that were previously exempt… Canada already imports $8.76 billion annually in prescription drugs from the U.S. To the extent that tariffed drugs go from China to the U.S. to Canada, the cost of both publicly and privately funded drug plans will increase.
Tags: budget, economy, featured, Health, pharmaceutical
Posted in Health Debates | No Comments »
Pharmacare is now law in Canada, but negotiations with provinces could slow progress
Monday, March 24th, 2025
Pharmacare could have been implemented nationally, like it was for the Canadian Dental Care Plan, offering federal coverage for essential medications like contraceptives and diabetes medications, while insurers and provincial plans cover the rest. This would have been a simple approach that would have allowed for future changes, and could have been implemented by provinces much like vaccines are — paid for using people’s provincial health numbers, sidestepping the difficulty of enrolling people in a new plan.
Tags: Health, jurisdiction, participation, pharmaceutical
Posted in Health Debates | No Comments »
9 supervised consumption sites in Ontario are switching to drug recovery treatment hubs
Monday, January 6th, 2025
The sites selected are within 200 metres of schools and licensed child-care centres in Toronto, Ottawa, Hamilton, Kitchener, Guelph and Thunder Bay. They will be converted into what the province calls Homelessness and Addiction Recovery Treatment (HART) Hubs, with 10 others also being created across the province… Applications for the remaining HART Hubs are under review and will be announced in the coming weeks.
Tags: crime prevention, jurisdiction, pharmaceutical
Posted in Health Delivery System | 302 Comments »
Doug Ford needs to follow the evidence on supervised consumption
Thursday, November 28th, 2024
… harm reduction doesn’t simply prevent overdoses and infectious diseases; it eases pressure on Emergency Response Services and our crowded ER’s… all residents deserve to live in peace and security… However, community safety is not a zero-sum game. It is possible to keep our neighbourhoods safe and clean while implementing comprehensive treatment services that save lives — even if it means moving those services to more appropriate locations and improving the way we deliver them.
Tags: budget, crime prevention, Health, ideology, jurisdiction, pharmaceutical
Posted in Inclusion Delivery System | No Comments »
Don’t have private insurance? You’re still paying for others who do — you deserve better care
Saturday, November 23rd, 2024
Health care in Canada is universal for only two things, doctors and hospitals. For everything else, from psychology to prescription drugs, care depends on your private insurance or ability to pay… public subsidization occurs through an income tax exemption. Specifically, on an employer’s contribution to private health insurance premiums… What if instead, $4 billion of public subsidies to private insurance were used to support universal pharmacare, beyond diabetes and contraceptive care?
Tags: budget, featured, Health, ideology, jurisdiction, pharmaceutical, tax
Posted in Health Policy Context | No Comments »
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