Liberals' political will on pharmacare questioned as minister promises progress
CTV
Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos says the government's plans for pharmacare are moving forward, but experts who study government drug plans suggest the Liberals may have lost the political will to take bold steps toward a national program.
Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos says the government's plans for pharmacare are moving forward, but experts who study government drug plans suggest the Liberals may have lost the political will to take bold steps toward a national program.
People like Marc-Andre Gagnon were still holding out hope that spending would be set aside in Tuesday's federal budget to create a national, single-payer drug plan.
But though the Carleton University health policy professor said he was optimistic, he also admitted he wasn't surprised when there was no mention of pharmacare in the document.
"We don't see the political willingness anymore," Gagnon said in an interview Friday.
Progress on pharmacare is one of the conditions of the confidence-and-supply agreement the NDP entered with the Liberals last year, in which the NDP throws its support behind the government on key confidence votes in exchange for progress on the party's priorities.
Under the agreement, the government has until the end of this year to pass some kind of pharmacare legislation, and must put together a national list of essential medicines and a plan for bulk purchasing by 2025.
Duclos said in no uncertain terms that progress on the file will continue -- but that progress is likely to be incremental.
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