National Pharmacare in Canada

This note reviews the recent developments and discusses some of the key considerations in moving forward, including: the cost, the federal/provincial-territorial dynamics, the issue of winners and losers, and the level of support from the Canadian public and key stakeholders. [...] The Senate study on the state of the health-care system in Canada, chaired by Michael Kirby, was authorized in March 2001 and the Commission on the Future of Health Care in Canada, headed by Roy Romanow, was approved in April 2001. [...] The federal Liberals pledged to work with the PT governments to “develop and help fund” a national pharmaceutical plan.37 The Conservative party committed to implementing the 2003 accord, including a proposal “that the federal government assume direct responsibility for the catastrophic plan in the Accord.”38 At their annual summer meeting a month later, the premiers called on the federal governme [...] The review formed the basis of a set of 11 assumptions that were used to develop four scenarios that resulted in estimates of prescription drug cost savings over the 2008 baseline expenditure of $25.1 billion, ranging from $2.9 billion to $10.7 billion.52 The scenario with the greatest savings was based on adoption of New Zealand’s drug-purchasing policies53 and the results of the 11 parameters fo [...] In the communiqué following their meeting, the premiers emphasized the importance of the pCPA and noted the prospect of the participation of the federal government, and also indicated that the PTs would examine pharmacare programs in other countries.63 In September 2015, there were three proposals for an approach to universal pharmacare that involved the continued participation of private plans.