What Is Political Action For Universal Drug Care

Today, Canada is the only industrialized nation without a national pharmacare plan (“Campaign for a National Drug Plan” 1). Currently, each province has its own pharmacare plan and this creates differences in medication prices across the nation. Price depends on drug efficacy, how commonly the drug is used, and to what extent the provincial government decides to subsidize the drug. Overall, drug coverage in Canada depends on a person’s age, income, and the province they live in. Today, one in ten Canadians cannot afford the medications that their doctors prescribe (“Pharmacare 2020” 2). Their lack of

In the first Hall Royal Commission, Pharmacare is outlined as recommend in joining the covered benefits for Canadian citizens - Canadians pays slightly less than their U.S. counterparts for Pharmaceuticals (Armstrong, p51). Privatization influences an unequal system - creating significant hindrances for impoverished people in Canada, again creating a rich-poor divide that does not influence equality, which is the essence of the Canadian Health Act. As pointed out in The Canadian Regime, “In European Countries, drugs are covered by public insurance schemes. Why not do the same in Canada?” (Malcolmson, p226). Further, Malcolmson describes the possibility for the government to generate a type of bulk buying scheme - where we as a country can

The Canadian government must implement an equitable national pharmacare program in which medically necessary prescription drugs are covered

The rise in costs of prescription medicines affects all sectors of the health care industry, including private insurers, public programs, and patients. Spending on prescription drugs continues to be an important health care concern, particularly in light of rising pharmaceutical costs, the aging population, and increased use of costly specialty drugs. In recent history, increases in prescription drug costs have outpaced other categories of health care spending, rising rapidly throughout the latter half of the 1990s and early 2000s. (Kaiseredu.org, 2012).

The article deals with the trichotomy that presents itself in Canada, Insured America, and Uninsured America. The article is an analysis of the differences between all three with more focus on how uninsured America is separate from the other two. The focus is on the aged old question of “Whose residents have better access to health care, the United States’ or Canada’s?”(699). Morgan and Kennedy state that the Joint Canada U.S. Survey of Health data showed that despite major differences in their health systems, most Canadians and Americans get the care they need. The problem is that a certain group, uninsured America, are much more likely to report serious access barriers. About “one-third of currently or recently uninsured Americans”, aged

Portability means that Canadians have access to public health insurance even when they travel within Canada or internationally. Accessibility means that no Canadian will be discriminated against on the basis of income, age, health, etc. These conditions lay the foundation for Canada’s health care system. Additionally the Canada Health Act aims to protect, promote, and restore the physical and mental well being of Canadians and focuses on delivering medically necessary procedures in terms of need and not ability to pay. (“Canada Health Act,” 1984) Many Canadians take great pride in the notion of a universal healthcare and the idea of not having to pay upfront fees for medical services but in reality this notion is overstated and ignores the disadvantages of the healthcare sector. In fact in the latest Commonwealth Study, Canada was compared to eleven other major industrialized countries around the world, and was actually ranked second to last, just above the U.S.A (Flood, 2014) Canadians are often caught up in the idea that we have a great health care system by comparing it the U.S.A’s, but simply being better than our neighbouring country is not an

In this essay, federal drug policy, and its correlation with the shortage of drugs in Canada, will be considered. In particular, the disruption of drug supply will be discussed, with a specific focus on drug supply within the province of Ontario. A discussion will ensue surrounding drug pricing and policy, and the ways in which these frameworks can ultimately serve to affect the efficacy of medical treatment and the safety of patients. In addition, the paper will focus on the accountability of multiple stakeholders, at both the federal and provincial levels, in terms of supplying medically necessary drugs to Canadians. This analysis will encompass the dominant role played by pharmaceutical actors in Canada. Finally, conclusion will be drawn which take account of existing federal and provincial programs that aim to address drug shortages and the recommendations on comprehensive and appropriate drug funding.

The lessons of Canadian national health insurance are as straightforward as they are neglected (Oberlander, 2016). Having a single government-operated insurance plan greatly reduces administrative costs and complexity. It concentrates purchasing power to reduce prices, enables budgetary control over health spending, and guarantees all legal residents, regardless of age, health status, income, or occupation, coverage for core medical services. Canadian Medicare charges patients no copayments or deductibles for hospital or physician services. Controlling medical spending does not, the Canadian experience demonstrates, require cost sharing that deters utilization. The Canadian system is hardly perfect. All countries struggle with tensions among cost, access, and quality; at times, Canada has grappled with fiscal pressures, wait lists for some services, and public dissatisfaction. Yet its problems pale in comparison to those in the United

In this essay, federal drug policy, and its correlation with the shortage of drugs in Canada, will be considered. In particular, the disruption of drug supply will be considered, with a specific focus on drug supply within the province of Ontario. A discussion will ensue surrounding drug pricing and policy, and the ways in which these frameworks can ultimately serve to affect the efficacy of medical treatment and the safety of patients. Finally, the paper will focus on the accountability of multiple stakeholders, at both the federal and provincial levels, in terms of supplying medically necessary drugs to Canadians. This analysis will encompass the dominant role played by pharmaceutical actors in Canada. Finally, conclusions will be drawn

One important issue that plagues the Canadian health system is the affordability of prescription drugs, which arises from the medication not being covered under Canada’s current universal health care system (Parliament of Canada). The prescription drugs are either paid out of pocket, or covered a certain percentage depending on their private insurance or benefits given by their profession. For those who cannot afford the medication it causes a dilemma, choosing to take on a financial burden for the sake of their own treatment and without taking the needed treatment the disease may get worse. Since it is out-of-the-pocket the wealthy can obtain the medication, while the poor are handcuffed to do so, therefore making this a financial and an equity

In Canada different public prescription drug programs are based on the assumptions that the working class of Canada does

In Canada, drug spending is considered to be the second largest spending category of healthcare ("Protecting Canadians from Excessive Drug Prices", 2017). Ever since Medicare was established in Canada, health expensive has increased to about 16% ("Protecting Canadians from Excessive Drug Prices", 2017). Canada is found to pay way more on prescription drugs than compared to other developed countries ("Protecting Canadians from Excessive Drug Prices", 2017). Not only does the high expense affect the consumer, but it also limits the access to creating new medicines as well as having less resource in other areas in the healthcare field ("Protecting Canadians from Excessive Drug Prices", 2017). As of January 2016, the provincial, federal, and territorial ministers have planned to work together in order to improve the accessibility, affordability, and

Canada’s health care system “can be described as a publicly-funded, privately-provided, universal, comprehensive, affordable, single-payer, provincially administered national health care system” (Bernard, 1992, p.103). Health care in Canada is provincial responsibility, with the Canada Health act being a federal legislation (Bernard, 1992, p. 102). Federal budget cuts, has caused various problems within Medicare such as increased waiting times and lack of new technology. Another problem with Medicare is that The Canada Heath Act does not cover expenditures for prescriptions drugs. All these issue has caused individuals to suggest making Medicare privatized. Although, Canada’s health care system consists of shortcomings, our universal

When asked to describe what makes Canada unique compared to other countries, many outsiders might yell out “Hockey!” “Cold Weather!” or “Free Health Care!.” Health care is definitely one of Canada’s most noticeable trademarks when compared to the United States, but the reality is that our health care services are not what they are made out to be. Canadians tend to take pride in the fact that they have a Government funded health care system, but the system is failing at a rapid pace. One can gage the quality of health care in our country while at the emergency ward in any hospital, where most Canadians realize its downsides. The Government spends most of its budget towards health care but Canadians are not feeling an improvement. Waiting

It is important for me to note that Canada does have a drug review board that determines the effectives of drugs with those currently on the market (CNN, ). If people are unable to fill their prescriptions, no matter their ability to access a physician, they would ultimately jeopardize “their health and potentially costing the system even more when they become sick from conditions that could have been prevented” (Source). Therefore, until the structure of institutions contributing to healthcare are reconstructed to reflect the objectives of the ACA, we will continue to witness increases in medical costs as more people gain