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Council joins large coalition agreeing on pharmacare principles

The Council of Canadians has joined more than 70 national, provincial and territorial organizations representing health care providers, non-profit organizations, workers, seniors, patients and academics in consensus on principles for a national pharmacare program in Canada – and the number of organizations endorsing these principles is growing by the day.

The coalition “believes that national pharmacare should be a seamless extension of the existing universal health care system in Canada, which covers medically necessary physician and hospital services, and therefore operate in harmony with the principles of the Canada Health Act.”

The coalition, which includes the Canadian Health Coalition, the Canadian Labour Congress, the Canadian Federation of Nurses, Unifor, Canadian Doctors for Medicare and others, is calling on the federal government to take a leadership role in pharmacare. “This must include substantial funding commitments, sufficient to induce provincial and territorial governments to opt-in to the national program.”

You can join these organizations in taking a strong stand for pharmacare! The Advisory Council on the Implementation of National Pharmacare has opened up an online public consultation process –have your say before the deadline on September 28.

Use the Council of Canadians’ online tool to send your comments now »

There are three other ways you can participate:

The Council of Canadians has been a long-time advocate for a strong public health care system that includes pharmacare. A publicly funded, universal drug coverage program would allow everyone to access to the prescription medicines they need. People would be healthier and many would no longer have the economic burden of paying for medications out-of-pocket. Canadian employers would also benefit by not having to include expensive drug plans in employees’ benefit packages.

Visit our pharmacare campaign page to learn more.