The Pharmacare Act passed – now what?
It wasn’t easy, and the Pharmacare Act cheated failure at least three times, but the long-promised federal legislation establishing a national universal pharmacare program has become a reality. Bill C-64 passed the senate on Thursday, October 10 and has become the law of the land.
This is a significant accomplishment. Consider this:
- A year ago the NDP rejected the Liberals’ draft bill as inadequate and sent them back to the drawing board.
- As the December 31 deadline seemed impossible to meet, the NDP extended the Liberals a lifeline until March 1, 2024.
- Talks nearly collapsed again, but at the 11th hour, a consensus was reached. Health Minister Mark Holland said every word was debated, and described the Act as “balanced on a pinhead.”
What’s next?
The Pharmacare Act’s journey has been incredibly unpredictable, so I make no promises in foretelling its future.
Flush with $1.5 billion from the last federal budget, Health Minister Mark Holland says he wants to enter deals with provinces to get free medicine in the hands of people beginning January and possibly deals with every province by the Spring.
So here are four things we are watching closely for, now that Bill C-64 has passed.
- How will the British Columbia election on October 19 impact the province’s non-binding MOU signed by its NDP government and the federal government last month? An NDP victory will all but ensure the province joins pharmacare, but bets are off if the Conservatives win.
- Will Manitoba be the first province or territory to reach a bilateral agreement with the federal government for pharmacare? The word in Ottawa is that talks are going well.
- Will Canada’s largest province, Ontario, enter into talks with the federal government now that the Pharmacare Act has been passed?
- Will Dr. Eric Hoskins be tapped to lead the Pharmacare Act’s Committee of Experts in the coming weeks? It’s charged with making recommendations respecting options for the operation and financing of national, universal, single-payer pharmacare, and reporting back in October 2025.
Of course, the big pharma and insurance industries will not give up their joint efforts to derail pharmacare. Having had success in greatly limiting pharmacare’s impact, but not being able to stop it altogether ultimately, the corporate lobbies will redouble their anti-pharmacare efforts in provincial capitals and with their natural allies in the Conservative Party.
The Canadian Health Coalition and allies will be gathering outside November’s meeting of provincial and territorial health ministers in Halifax, urging them to join pharmacare.
