As economic pain from the COVID-19 pandemic continues, an elected official in the Town of Comox is calling on the federal government to implement a universal national pharmacare program.
Town of Comox councillor Stephanie McGowan has brought forward a motion which if approved would result in the municipality sending a letter to the federal government calling on them to rapidly implement a national universal pharmacare program amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
McGowan’s motion will be debated by council at their upcoming meeting on June 17.
“The federal government has the opportunity right now to provide an immediate $3.5 billion for universal, public coverage of between 100 and 200 medicines of greatest importance to the health of the Canadian population,” the letter reads.
The letter suggests that a “rapid implementation” of a national universal pharmacare program or system would support Canadian households, businesses, and municipalities as well as improve access to essential treatments when Canadians.
It also stresses that the need for such a program due to the economic crisis stemming from COVID-19 has “never been” starker and that implementing such a program would avoid “needless” suffering.
“It is, therefore, time for the federal government to implement the long-promised universal, comprehensive, public pharmacare plan,” the letter said.
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Citing a 2018 House of Commons report on pharmacare, the letter explains that because of Canada’s “patchwork” of private and public drug plans, one in five Canadians have limited or no prescription drug coverage at all and that Canadians are “three times” more likely to skip prescription medications because of affordability issues.
The letter also calls Canada’s existing private and provincial drug plan system inefficient, arguing that the existing system places a heavy financial burden on households, employers, including local governments.
“Having multiple drug plans operating in every province – including multiple private plans for public sector employees – needlessly duplicates administrative costs and reduces Canada’s power to effectively manage prices. Wasteful spending on these drug plans has long diverted resources from services that Canadians need from local governments,” the letter said.
Citing data from the Institute for Research on Public Policy, the letter said local governments spent an estimated $500 million to provide private drug coverage for public sector employees in 2015. It suggests that with municipalities facing reduced revenues due to COVID-19 and rising drug prices, the problem is only going to get worse.
“The costs of these plans have increased dramatically since, driven by increased availability and use of high-cost medicines, the costs of which are very difficult for individual employers to manage,” the letter said.
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Speaking to CHEK News, McGowan said she’s heard from residents within the Town of Comox who have recently had to cut medication or skip it entirely because they cannot afford them. She said having a universal pharmacare program would benefit a large number of people, reduce some of the financial strain that municipalities and take some pressure off the healthcare system.
“It’s something that I know working families, and elderly people are needing. It’s not just one demographic that it would be helpful for,” McGowan said, adding. “It’s going to be important to take the pressure off our already stressed and overburdened health care system, I can only see this as a positive move.”
Comox, like so many other municipalities, has seen its revenues decline as recreation centres have been closed and programs cancelled due to COVID-19. Town councillors agreed to reduce property tax increase from 5.52 per cent to 2 per cent this year following a staff report that indicated that the municipality was expected to lose about $700,000 and more than $7 million worth of projects would need to be removed from the budget due to COVID-19.
“We are definitely facing a large deficit hit,” McGowan said, adding. “We’re losing a lot of money just having all of our recreation facilities closed and not having the services available that people are used to.”
In 2018, the municipality paid out more than $6 million in wages and benefits to its employees. McGowan said universal pharmacare would lower some of those costs as drug plans continue to increase.
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Although pharmacare is not something local governments have any control over, McGowan said it important for elected officials such as herself to raise the issue with higher levels of government.
“I think it is really important for us as elected officials to represent the community’s needs and that doesn’t always mean sticking to roads and property taxes,” she said. “People are suffering and we have a unique opportunity to bring these needs to a higher level of government.”
And with the billions of dollars the federal government has spent in recent months, McGowan believes it would make sense to move forward with universal pharmacare now more than ever.
“It seems like a no brainer to me,” she said. “If we are pushing out money to do all these other things, then why not the one thing that multiple studies having show will help financially and help the health of our communities.”
If councillors approved McGowan’s motion, the letter would also be sent out to other municipalities as well as the province.
Nicholas Pescod
