Budget 2019: Moving Forward on Implementing National Pharmacare

From: Health Canada

News release

March 25, 2019 - Amherst, NS - Health Canada

Canadians are proud of Canada’s health care system, which provides care based on need and not the ability to pay. However, not everyone has access to prescription drugs. In fact, Canadians face some of the highest drug costs in the world and drug coverage is uneven.

Today, in Amherst, the Honourable Ginette Petitpas Taylor, Minister of Health, highlighted Budget 2019, Investing in the Middle Class. The Budget details how the Government is making sure middle class Canadians feel the impact of Canada’s economic growth. That includes helping more Canadians find an affordable home, prepare for well-paid jobs, retire with confidence and get prescription drugs when they need them.

Speaking at Maggie’s Place Family Resource Centre, Minister Petitpas Taylor discussed how the Government is helping Canadians access and afford the prescription drugs they need. Budget 2019 announces the Government’s intention to work with its partners to move forward on three foundational elements of national pharmacare.

  • Create the Canadian Drug Agency that would assess the effectiveness of new prescription drugs and negotiate drug prices on behalf of Canada’s drug plans. By negotiating better prices, this could help lower the cost of drugs for Canadians by up to $3 billion per year in the long term.
  • Take steps toward the development of a national formulary—a comprehensive, evidence-based list of prescribed drugs. The Government will work in partnership with provinces, territories and stakeholders to develop this list, which would provide the basis for a consistent approach to formulary listing and patient access across the country.
  • Establish a national strategy for high-cost drugs for rare diseases to help Canadians— many of whom are children—get better access to the effective treatments that they need. The Government will work with provinces, territories and other partners to co-develop a plan to ensure that patients with rare diseases have better and more consistent coverage for treatments.

These measures are an important first step in expanding drug coverage and moving forward on implementing national pharmacare. They are based on the consultations and interim report of the Advisory Council on the Implementation of National Pharmacare.

The Advisory Council’s final report is expected this spring.

Quotes

“The vision our Government put forward in Budget 2019 marks an important first step on the path to a system that helps all Canadians get the medicines they need. The new Canadian Drug Agency will help lower the cost of prescription drugs for Canadians, and a national approach will help make some of the most expensive drugs more accessible for Canadians with rare diseases. I look forward to working with my provincial and territorial colleagues to ensure that Canadians do not have to choose between putting food on the table and buying the prescription drugs they or their family need.”

The Honourable Ginette Petitpas Taylor
Minister of Health

Quick facts

  • Budget 2019 proposes to provide up to $1 billion over two years, starting in 2022–23, with up to $500 million per year ongoing, to help Canadians with rare diseases access the drugs they need and $35 million over four years, starting in 2019–20, to Health Canada to establish a Canadian Drug Agency Transition Office.

  • Every year, almost one million Canadians give up food and heat to afford medicines. Prescription drug spending in Canada has risen from $2.6 billion in 1985 to $33.7 billion in 2018.

  • In Budget 2018, the Government of Canada announced the creation of the Advisory Council on the Implementation of National Pharmacare to lead a national dialogue on how best to implement national pharmacare in a manner that is affordable for Canadians and their employers.

  • The Council has engaged thousands of Canadians from across the country through stakeholder roundtables, targeted engagement sessions and community town halls. Groups consulted included patients and caregivers, health care providers, representatives of Indigenous organizations, government officials, industry, labour, employers and academics.

  • The Advisory Council provided preliminary recommendations to the Government of Canada in its interim report, released on March 6, 2019.

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Contacts

Thierry Bélair
Office of Ginette Petitpas Taylor
Minister of Health
613-957-0200

Media Relations
Health Canada 
613-957-2983
hc.media.sc@canada.ca

Public Inquiries:
613-957-2991
1-866 225-0709

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