Canada desperately needs a universal drug program

May 12, 2007, Richard Brennan, The Toronto Star

OTTAWA–Canada desperately needs a universal drug program to protect Canadians from the crushing weight of skyrocketing pharmaceutical costs, NDP Leader Jack Layton says.

"Working Canadians are pulling me aside and telling me costs for prescriptions are taking over their lives or the life of a loved one," Layton said in a speech to a Canadian Union of Public Employees' conference in Victoria, B.C.

Layton said universal drug coverage, which he estimates would cost $1 billion a year, would be the completion of the dream that former federal NDP leader Tommy Douglas, the father of medicare, had for Canada.

"It has become clear that too many Canadians are getting sick and having to decide between rent payments and their medications," he said yesterday.

Most provinces now offer drug coverage for seniors and people on social assistance, and in some cases provide catastrophic drug coverage.

Layton said one in five Canadians is underinsured for drug costs and a "staggering" 3.5 million Canadians are without any drug coverage at all. The cost of drugs can vary from one side of the country to the other. In British Columbia, the average household spends about $314 a year compared to $495 in Prince Edward Island.

Layton said prescription drug costs are the fastest-growing component of health spending and now make up nearly 20 per cent of expenditures.

"We spend more on drugs than we do on physicians," he said.

Layton called on CUPE members to take it upon themselves to join the campaign to bring about universal prescription drug coverage.

"In 1984, Tommy warned us that when it comes to public health care, `we can't stand still. We can either go back or we can go forward,'" he said.

Layton said his party's proposal for a drug plan would first ensure there is coverage for all Canadians and then work to bring down the cost of drugs.

The federal Liberals had promised national pharmacare and home-care programs, but they were rejected by the premiers, who told Ottawa it should focus on boosting spending on current programs, not planning new ones.