Pharmacare is a Canadian proposal for a publicly funded

insurance Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to protect ...

program for

medication Medication (also called medicament, medicine, pharmaceutical drug, medicinal product, medicinal drug or simply drug) is a drug used to medical diagnosis, diagnose, cure, treat, or preventive medicine, prevent disease. Drug therapy (pharmaco ...

s, similar to Medicare for

health insurance Health insurance or medical insurance (also known as medical aid in South Africa) is a type of insurance that covers the whole or a part of the risk of a person incurring medical expenses. As with other types of insurance, risk is shared among ma ...

. Limited pharmacare programs exist in the provinces of

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

Manitoba Manitoba is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population ...

, and

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

. Multiple organizers and commenters have advocated a pan-Canadian pharmacare program to complement the existing

health system A health system, health care system or healthcare system is an organization of people, institutions, and resources that delivers health care services to meet the health needs of target populations. There is a wide variety of health systems aroun ...

, but the precise model for implementation is unclear.

History

A national pharmacare program was first proposed as part of Canada's universal health coverage plan in 1964. Attempts to create a federal program began in 1994 under Prime Minister

Jean Chrétien Joseph Jacques Jean Chrétien (; born January 11, 1934) is a retired Canadian politician, statesman, and lawyer who served as the 20th prime minister of Canada from 1993 to 2003. He served as Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada, leader of t ...

after recommendation from the National Forum on Health. This was followed by the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...

endorsing pharmacare "as a long-term national objective" in 1997. The efforts ultimately failed over disagreements between the federal and provincial governments. Despite subsequent recommendation from the Commission on the Future of Health Care in Canada and the

Canadian Senate The Senate of Canada () is the upper house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Crown and the House of Commons, they compose the bicameral legislature of Canada. The Senate is modelled after the British House of Lords, with its member ...

, the efforts were discontinued in 2006 by Prime Minister

Stephen Harper Stephen Joseph Harper (born April 30, 1959) is a Canadian politician who served as the 22nd prime minister of Canada from 2006 to 2015. He is to date the only prime minister to have come from the modern-day Conservative Party of Canada, ser ...

who had previously pledged to implement a pharmacare program. In 2019, Prime Minister

Justin Trudeau Justin Pierre James Trudeau (born December 25, 1971) is a Canadian politician who served as the 23rd prime minister of Canada from 2015 to 2025. He led the Liberal Party from 2013 until his resignation in 2025 and was the member of Parliament ...

promised to implement pharmacare if re-elected. The plan was endorsed by Liberal delegates in 2021 and included as part of a

Confidence and Supply In parliamentary system, parliamentary democracies based on the Westminster system, confidence and supply is an arrangement under which a minority government (one which does not control a majority in the legislature) receives the support of one ...

agreement between the Liberal Party and

NDP NDP may stand for: Computing * Neighbor Discovery Protocol, an Internet protocol * Nortel Discovery Protocol, a layer two Internet protocol, also called SONMP * Nondeterministic programming, a type of computer language Government * National Dev ...

in 2022. In February 2024, the NDP and Liberals reached an agreement on proposed draft legislation for a pharmacare program.Aaron Wherry (23 February 2024)
Liberals and New Democrats reach a deal on pharmacare

CBC News CBC News is the division of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the news gathering and production of news programs on the corporation's English-language operations, namely CBC Television, CBC Radio, CBC News Network, and CBC ...

. The proposed program would create a

single-payer system Single-payer healthcare is a type of universal healthcare, in which the costs of essential healthcare for all residents are covered by a single public system (hence "single-payer"). Single-payer systems may contract for healthcare services from pr ...

to cover expenses for contraceptives and diabetes medication in the first phase, with a designated budget of $1.5 billion. Subsequent phases would develop a national formulary and national purchasing plan, at an estimated cost of $38.9 billion for the 2027/28 fiscal year. The government tabled Bill C-64 titled ''An Act respecting pharmacare'' in 2024, which passed on October 10, 2024. The Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health (CADTH) was revamped into Canada's Drug Agency, tasked with creating a formulary and a national purchasing plan. In September 2024, British Columbia became the first province to sign on to the program to cover birth control and diabetes medication, prior coverage provided by the province for birth control was re-allocated to hormone therapy medication for women.The Canadian Press (12 September 2024)
B.C. pharmacare deal will cover diabetes meds, hormone therapy
CBC.

References

{{reflist

External links

A Prescription for Canada: Achieving Pharmacare for All - Final Report of the Advisory Council on the Implementation of National Pharmacare
Canada.ca.
Pharmacare 2020
Health law in Canada Publicly funded health care Canadian political phrases

History

See also

References

External links