Ottawa says pharmacare is coming — here's what you need to know

The federal government's latest budget sets aside $1.5 billion to implement pharmacare — a major financial commitment with the potential for a wide-ranging impact on the country's health-care system.

The program, long demanded by the government's supply-and-confidence partners in the NDP, will start small by covering just two categories of drugs.

For the program to get off the ground, the provinces and territories also will have to be on board.

Ottawa has made a commitment to expand pharmacare — it's standing up a panel of experts to provide advice on how best to implement a universal, single-payer program sometime in the future.

CBC News has received a number of questions about the program. Here are some answers.

The Pharmacare Act proposes a publicly-funded, nationwide health-care insurance program to subsidize the cost of prescription drugs in Canada.

The stated purpose of the act is to improve the accessibility and affordability of prescription drugs for all Canadians, with a goal of eventually introducing a national, universal pharmacare program.

Canada is the only country in the developed world with a universal health-care program that does not include universal coverage for prescription drugs. Instead, we have a mix of private, public and out-of-pocket insurance plans.

According to the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO), total prescription drug spending in Canada in 2021-22 amounted to roughly $36.6 billion. Of that total, 46 per cent was covered by public sources, 40 per cent was covered by private insurance, and 14 per cent was paid for out-of-pocket.

Legislation has been laying the groundwork a pharmacare-type program for decades.

The Medical Care Act, passed into law in 1966 but not fully implemented until 1972, established a cost-sharing arrangement between the federal government and the provinces to ensure universal public health insurance for hospitals and physician services.

The Canada Health Act, passed in 1984, enshrined in law the core principles of the public health-care system — that it be publicly administered, comprehensive, universal, portable and accessible to all.

The missing piece — universal prescription drug coverage — is what pharmacare is meant to provide.

In its current form, the proposed legislation would provide universal access to a wide variety of contraceptives and diabetes medication.