IQALUIT, NUNAVUT - Prime Minister Paul Martin has rejected a proposal from the premiers to create a national pharmacare program paid for by Ottawa, saying it would be too expensive.
"What we talked about during the campaign was the question of catastrophic drug coverage," Martin said who is in Nunavut.
"I think that 's where the focus has to lie."
The premiers and territorial leaders unanimously agreed on creating a pharmacare program at a health-care summit in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont. at the end of last month.
They argued that having Ottawa as the single buyer of drugs would help reduce costs, but they refused to talk about specific dollar figures.
The cost for a pharmacare program has been estimated to range from $7 billion to $12 billion annually.
A pharmacare program is a natural fit for the federal government, the premiers said, since it is responsible for many related areas, such as patent protection and drug testing.
From CBC