A win for the pharma team

I'm always glad to see progressive policies examined both for their economic merits as well as for their internal merits. And the National Health Coalition has done the job perfectly in its call for a national pharmacare program:

“Universal first-dollar coverage for cost-effective, safe drugs will save money and lives,” Kathleen Connors, chairwoman of the Canadian Health Coalition, said in a letter to new federal Health Minister Tony Clement.

“Canada has a big drug problem,” she said, citing the $18-billion in annual prescription drug spending and the large number of medical errors related to prescription drugs. (An estimated 12,000 deaths annually are attributed to the misuse and overprescription of drugs in Canada.)...

In its report, the Canadian Health Coalition argues that a national pharmacare plan would reduce costs for provincial health plans, but it would benefit employers even more, extending the “competitive advantage” that medicare already offers.

Currently, Canadian employers spend more than $6.7-billion annually in drug insurance premiums, but 42 per cent of workers are not covered by work-based plans, according to the report.

Of course, the CHC's logic probably isn't the type that the Cons are willing to listen to...regardless of how many lives and dollars may be at stake. But it's still vital to make sure that pharmacare receives its due attention in the lead-up to Canada's next election. And if Clement can be persuaded to classify prescription drugs as an area where even the Cons can acknowledge that government action will lead to positive results, then all the better.