Martin rejects national drug plan.

[Big Blue Machine]

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

[Bakunin]

I like the liberal logic.

It cost too much to save money.

After 1 month they already forgot that healtcare was there 1st priority.

[Slavik44]

I like the liberal logic.

It cost too much to save money.

After 1 month they already forgot that healtcare was there 1st priority.

No their first priority was winning the election at all costs, unfortunantley one of those costs will be Canadians. to bad they had no priorities after that first one.

[caesar]

Let's get the money where it is needed most. Doctors and Specialists and required tests and surgeries; Get those long long waiting lists down to something near to reasonable.

Both health care and pharmacare must be controlled by the same government. If the feds pay for prescriptions; the provincial governments will want to keep us doped up instead of using any medical procedures that would be their responsibility. No thanks. Both governments like to play games; I don't want to be their guinea pig.

[idealisttotheend]

Bakunin:

I like the liberal logic. 

It cost too much to save money.

Exactly. Canadians have to pay for their prescriptions anyway and it would likely be cheaper if the government did it on their behalf (cutting out insurance companies like Blue Cross also which are for profit). Therefore Martin has just proven that he has no vision and has spent too much time in the buisness world to see all the possibilities.

[Bryan]

Exactly.  Canadians have to pay for their prescriptions anyway and it would likely be cheaper if the government did it on their behalf (cutting out insurance companies like Blue Cross also which are for profit). 

I do agree with this in principle, one national program should make for lower costs for all, BUT....

Since when has anything the Federal Goverment has ever done ended up doing anything other than cost MORE?

The concept of a federal drug plan is great, but I do not trust the government, especially the Liberals, to carry such a program out without making it cost billions of dollars more than it has to.

[Bakunin]

i must agree on this one bryan. Maybe Paul Martin knew that his government was not performing enough to actually save money. Maybe he is not that stupid after all

[Cartman]

The concept of a federal drug plan is great, but I do not trust the government, especially the Liberals, to carry such a program out without making it cost billions of dollars more than it has to.

After the BSE program, I can't blame you. I like the general idea too, but I wonder if this might be an opportunity for drug companies to benefit too much (i.e. people perceive it as free so doctors freely prescribe and people readily accept prescriptions)?

Catastrophic drug care is a good idea though and I hope Martin moves quickly on this one. I once had an employee whose wife had a rare disease. Her meds cost $20,000/month!!!! Unbelievable I know.

[Big Blue Machine]

The federal government should pay 70% and the provinces should pay 30%

[idealisttotheend]

Health Minister poopoos pharmacare

Romanow says federal drug coverage sould be restricted to a 50/50 catastrophic plan

I find it interesting that centerist former NDPers are not standing up for pharmacare (though in Doasanjh's case he may be simply towing the party line).

I still think the reason it won't be done is pure cynacism. I mean the average citizen is going to have to pay for their drugs and all the evidence points to it being cheaper for the feds to do it from a single payer role. Plus the money the feds spend would save the provinces oodles of money which they could use for health care. At the end of the day though Martin probably wants to make yearly "injections" of money to the provinces which he can sell to the public instead of being stuck with any fixed costs that he can't continously take credit for.

I repsect the people who've pointed out that the federal goverment's administrative competance has not been particularily high lately but I don't think that should be a factor. After all, there is very little administration involved (decide what is covered and then set up a system to compensate pharmacies). Plus I think the federal civil service could be greatly improved with the proper motivation and changes.

If the federal government really has an interest in participating in health care and setting national standards then it should institute pharmacare. Yes costs are 7-12B and expected to rise but someone is going to have to pay them, a federal system would be most efficient and there is after all only one taxpayer/consumer.

[caesar]

Pharmacare such as the provincial premiers suggest (like BC's) is not very good anyhow. Discriminates against seniors. Most provinces subsidize seniors on fixed incomes; this pharmacare model up the costs dramatically for any senior responsible enough to save something for their retirement years.

We need to work on getting people into doctors, test and shortening the waiting list. Let's work on the important part of medical care first.

It would be stupid and dangerous for the Provinces to handle health care and the federal government to handle pharmacare. The two systems must work together. Otherwise the Provinces will keep medicating us to pass the cost to the federal government rather than curing our ailments via operations or other medical means.

Personally, I would like to see the federal government taking full control of all health issues so we are all treated equally in Canada. Many people have a pharmacare coverage via employment.

[Big Blue Machine]

The provinces should manage their health care and social servies because they know what they need and what to do. Ottawa doesn't know the needs of every province.

[caesar]

Health care is the same Canada wide; there are premiers like Campbell who are purposely destroying Health Care; blaming the Feds. One nation wide Health care service could be better controlled and no excuses by trying to blame the federal government. We are getting stuck in the middle with poor health care while our provincial leaders play games trying to get more money from the federal government. One single system under one control would be stronger and more manageable.

Why do you think the premiers do not want the Federal government to attach strings to the cash provided???

We need to train more doctors or fast track immigrant doctor's credentials more quickly. Taxpayers will be subsidizing this training. Why should we not insist in exchange that these doctors work; let's say 10 years as salaried doctors in large clinics encompassing complete care; doctor visit; specialists; MRIs; x rays etc at a one stop clinic. I understand that these would be more efficient and cheaper. It would have new doctors together under supervision. Doctor's resist this as they prefer the fee for service where they fast track you out in 5 mintes and charge the goverment 15. We need accountability from doctors. We are all aware that many double bill. Send out more verifications showing the patients what the government has been billed on their behalf. We used to get such statements but I have not seen one in years. It may be too expensive to send statements out to every patient but there certainly should be more random checks to keep doctors in line.

[Cartman]

I agree that health care should be centralized but I am not in favour of a national pharmacare program (except for exceptional cases). My fear is that corporations would just up the costs of drugs in a serious way knowing that the gov't would foot the bill and individuals would not be too concerned. I like the idea, but I am not convinced it can be done in practice.