As medical students and resident physicians, we often ask our patients how they’re responding to their medications. But more and more, the answer we get back is “I can’t actually fill my prescription. I can’t afford it.”
On Feb. 27, the federal government announced that Manitoba became the first province to reach a pharmacare agreement. It was followed by B.C. one week later.
Since Bill C-64 passed last October, the federal government has been negotiating with the provinces and territories to sign bilateral pharmacare deals. This bill, known as the Pharmacare Act, is a first step toward publicly funding medications, starting with diabetes medications and supplies, as well as contraceptives.
Yet, all we’ve heard from Ontario is that the province can’t commit to sign on until it knows more.
With the cost of living skyrocketing in Ontario, our patients continue to make difficult decisions – whether to pay for food, rent or medications. This is not something we were taught in medical school but is the unfortunate reality we face and often limits the treatments we can offer our patients. For the 7.5 million Canadians (around one in five) who do not have prescription drug coverage, we may have to rely on second-line treatments that are cheaper but often less effective or have more side effects. It is suboptimal health care.
This is despite widespread support for pharmacare, with nearly nine in 10 Canadians supporting a national pharmacare program, and significant benefits not only to our health-care system, but for spending on health care. By purchasing in bulk and preventing hospitalizations, a universal pharmacare program is estimated to reduce system-wide costs by nearly $5 billion by 2027.
It could also provide further benefits through standardizing the patchwork of drug insurance plans of more than 100 public and 100,000 private drug plans. Untying pharmacare from employment, where many get prescription drug cover, allows people to remain covered if they lose their job, gives them greater flexibility to switch jobs (eliminating “job lock”), and provides a safety net to keep Ontarians healthy. It would also benefit part-time, contract and other precarious workers who are not usually entitled to employer benefits.
A pharmacare program could also provide us with valuable data on prescription drug use by Canadians, which is currently fragmented across provinces and siloed by private corporations. It would help us improve prescribing practices, evaluate drug safety and efficacy, and ensure equity in access and coverage across diverse populations.
Since Premier Doug Ford has secured a third majority government, we must hold him accountable to improving the health of all Ontarians. It is time for our provincial leadership to take action.
And it is time for us to contact our Members of Provincial Parliament, including those newly elected, and demand that they take steps toward reaching a bilateral pharmacare agreement with the federal government.
Ontario cannot lag behind other provinces, and we certainly cannot waste this historic opportunity.
Interested in knowing what a psychiatrist “doctor” and medical student know about this topic? This is a lukewarm attempt at creating further distrust in our healthcare and politic institutions. Would like to see real actionable information on this topic.