Expert committee calls for expansion of national universal pharmacare
The Canadian Health Coalition welcomes the Final Report of the National Pharmacare Committee of Experts tabled in the House of Commons today by Minister of Health Marjorie Michel.
Chief among the report’s eight recommendations is a call for the federal government to fully fund a list of essential medicines, ensuring free access for all people living in Canada through existing processes, such as provincial and territorial health cards.
“There are 2 options: take charge and build pharmacare in Canada now or continue our over reliance on American-style private insurance schemes,” writes the committee’s chairperson, Dr. Nav Persaud, Canada Research Chair in Health Justice and Professor at the University of Toronto and a Staff Physician at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto. “The absence of a national and coordinated approach for access to medicines is unacceptable. Change is overdue,” says the report.
The Committee of Experts, announced on November 14, 2024, is a multidisciplinary group comprised of individuals from different sectors, including policy experts, academics and health care professionals. Its mandate is to recommend options for operating and financing a national, universal, single-payer pharmacare program in Canada.
The Pharmacare Act, which came into force on October 10, 2024, established the foundational principles for the implementation of national universal pharmacare in Canada and required the Minister of Health to establish this committee.
“The report of the Committee of Experts provides us with important guidance to achieve national universal pharmacare,” said Steven Staples, National Director of Policy and Advocacy for the Canadian Health Coalition. “Federal Health Minister Marjorie Michel should consider each of its recommendations carefully and move the program forward. Millions of Canadians are waiting for the Liberal government to fulfill its promise to deliver national universal pharmacare.”
