NDP table legislation to create universal pharmacare program

7 posts / 0 new

Mon, 2020-02-24 12:13

NorthReport

OTTAWA — NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says he will table a bill today calling for a universal pharmacare plan.

The party, which has been promising to table this legislation for some time, says its proposal is based on the principles of the Canada Health Act.

The bill doesn't specify a particular arrangement for funding provincial and territorial governments that would have to administer the drug plan, but instead would give the federal government authority to negotiate with them.

It does lay out conditions the provinces and territories would have to meet to receive funding, including making drug coverage widely accessible.

The Liberal government also promised a pharmacare plan in the last election, and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau included the initiative in Health Minister Patty Hajdu's mandate letter in December.

Singh has criticized the Liberals for dragging their feet on pharmacare and encouraged them to sign on to his bill to make it happen by 2022.

https://www.nationalnewswatch.com/2020/02/24/ndp-table-legislation-to-create-universal-pharmacare-program-2/#.XlQDyxNKhp-

Fri, 2024-02-23 17:24

josh

The federal Liberal government and the NDP have come to an agreement on pharmacare, clearing the way for the two parties to continue operating under the confidence-and-supply agreement that has helped keep the government in power over the past two years.

In an interview with CBC's Rosemary Barton Live airing Sunday, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said weeks of talks between the two sides have produced draft legislation that will set out the framework for a national pharmacare program and, in the short term, new coverage for contraception and diabetes treatment.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/liberals-ndp-pharmacare-deal-1.7123952

Sat, 2024-03-02 10:53

epaulo13

..25 min audio

Pharmcare bill is a rebuke to corporate interests, for now

Nav Persaud joins Donya Ziaee on The Breach Show to break down the (mostly) good, the bad, and ugly parts of the bill

Sat, 2024-03-02 11:46

epaulo13

..i can't help but think that the lib/ndp positions on palestine and it's rejection by canadians has influenced this pharmacare bill to come forward now. damage control.

Wed, 2024-03-13 14:52

epaulo13

Prospects for Canadian pharmacare

As a reform in a capitalist economy, the Trudeau government’s pharmacare plan is meek and hesitant—so far

quote:

The new minimal pharmacare plan is to be administered by the provinces and territories. It will only offer diabetes and contraception medicines. A long-term plan for growth of the programs into other fields of medication gives faint hope of expanded benefits very soon. Until the new proposal actually bears fruit, provincial pharmacare plans, where they exist, partially pay for drugs sold in local drug stores or online. The customer “co-pays” some portion of those costs.

These fragmentary existing programs mostly hinge around insurance as a method to pay for prescription drugs. Insurance is based on risk calculated by a private company such as a bank or formal insurance corporation. The insurer is betting that customers will not need drugs, while the customers fear they will. Insurers know the risk statistics (well or poorly). Universal pharmacare of quality, as experienced in many advanced economies around the globe, including the UK, Germany, New Zealand, and France, is based on needs rather than risks. But judging those needs is hit-and-miss. It’s often an exercise in “let the market decide” thinking.....

Wed, 2024-03-20 19:30

epaulo13

The NDP Has Compromised Canada’s Shot at Pharmacare

quote:

“This Is Some Kind of Business Agreement”

The Liberal-NDP pact, termed a supply-and-confidence agreement (not a coalition, as the NDP holds no cabinet seats), has put Singh in an uneasy bind as an opposition figure. His criticisms of the government on issues such as housing, climate, and foreign policy don’t carry much weight due to his having agreed to support the government to prevent its collapse.

Although Singh maintains the right under the agreement’s terms to walk away if the NDP is unsatisfied with its results — and he’s repeatedly threatened to do so — the results so far have been lackluster. “This isn’t politics. This is garbage. This is some kind of business agreement,” said Alanna Johnston, a Toronto delegate to the 2023 NDP convention.....

Wed, 2024-03-20 19:33

JKR

Pharmacare is a great policy whose time has come.