The Canadian Treatment Action Council (CTAC) is calling on all federal political parties to include a universal drug coverage plan to their election platforms.
Such a plan would pay for all required prescription drugs, biologic medicines, medical devices and other treatments prescribed by a regulated healthcare professional, and cover all Canadians without a adequate private or public coverage.
“People are essentially suffering and dying because of a lack of political will to change a broken system,” says Louise Binder, chair of CTAC. “This is just bad healthcare and bad long-term economic policy. The time has come for a universal drug plan.”
Such a plan would mimic state-run coverage in countries such as Austria, France, Germany, the United Kingdom and New Zealand.
Binder says the lack of political will is the only hurdle facing such a plan, and called the current system of drug insurance unfair, as new treatments are often not covered.