Universal Pharmacare would save Canadians over $4 Billion a year

mentalfloss

Prickly Curmudgeon Smiter
Jun 28, 2010
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Don't tell the liberscarians.


Universal pharmacare would save Canadians $4.2B a year, parliamentary budget officer says

Establishing a universal program for prescription medications would amount to about $4.2 billion in savings annually in Canada, the parliamentary budget officer says in a new report.

The report, requested by the House of Commons standing committee on health, was released Thursday.

It provides estimates of the cost to the federal government for a national pharmacare program based on the list of drugs publicly covered in Quebec.

The office estimates roughly $28.5 billion was spent on prescription drugs in 2015-16, and $24.6 billion of that total would have been eligible under a pharmacare program.

When Paul Scott was diagnosed with kidney cancer, he and his wife, Marianne, initially worried about how they'd pay for his medications. (CBC)

"After accounting for pricing and consumption changes, PBO estimates total drug spending under a national pharmacare program would amount to $20.4 billion, if implemented in 2015-16," the report's authors said. "This represents savings of roughly $4.2 billion."

The report says the reduced totals would break down this way:

Government: $11.9 billion.
Private insurance plans: $9 billion.
Patients: $3.6 billion.
Canada is the only industrialized country with universal medicare that does not provide universal coverage for prescription medications.

Universal pharmacare would save Canadians $4.2B a year, parliamentary budget officer says - Health - CBC News
 

Curious Cdn

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Feb 22, 2015
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Hey!

We're supposed to be privatizing our health care to catch up the the Americans, who have the best health care in the world!

Ask any American!
 

taxslave

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Nov 25, 2008
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What he neglects to mention is that the only people that "save" are the ones buying lots of drugs that people that don't support Big Pharma will be forced to pay for. So unless they can get the prices down to realistic levels it is not "saving" anything, just making everyone pay for the benefit of a few.

Hey!

We're supposed to be privatizing our health care to catch up the the Americans, who have the best health care in the world!

Ask any American!

We should be so lucky.
 

Curious Cdn

Hall of Fame Member
Feb 22, 2015
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What he neglects to mention is that the only people that "save" are the ones buying lots of drugs that people that don't support Big Pharma will be forced to pay for. So unless they can get the prices down to realistic levels it is not "saving" anything, just making everyone pay for the benefit of a few.



We should be so lucky.


Lucky, lucky luck! We need a shorter life span, more expensive healthcare and a quarter of our population excluded from care. I, for one,am incensed when they treat everybody who goes to the hospital. A proper, insurance driven system has to approve whether you are given any treatment before you are given any. Our system is wasteful. Too many people here survive and you know what a waste of money chronically sick people can be!
 

taxslave

Hall of Fame Member
Nov 25, 2008
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Lucky, lucky luck! We need a shorter life span, more expensive healthcare and a quarter of our population excluded from care. I, for one,am incensed when they treat everybody who goes to the hospital. A proper, insurance driven system has to approve whether you are given any treatment before you are given any. Our system is wasteful. Too many people here survive and you know what a waste of money chronically sick people can be!

All the eco fascists agree that the world is overpopulated anyway so why are we squandering billions trying to save walking dead?
 

IdRatherBeSkiing

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May 28, 2007
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What he neglects to mention is that the only people that "save" are the ones buying lots of drugs that people that don't support Big Pharma will be forced to pay for. So unless they can get the prices down to realistic levels it is not "saving" anything, just making everyone pay for the benefit of a few.



We should be so lucky.

Isn't that the same as universal healthcare?
 

Danbones

Hall of Fame Member
Sep 23, 2015
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some would call it sloooow death

Its OK for seniors to call it quits and...

Senior suicide rate skyrocketing
http://senioramericansassociation.com/2015/02/18/senior-suicide-rate-skyrocketing/

Now they are cutting back on the opium...

Some People Still Need Opioids
The crackdown on pain medication prescribing is intended to help the addiction crisis—but it’s leaving chronic pain patients in untenable situations.
http://www.slate.com/articles/healt...life_miserable_for_chronic_pain_patients.html

go figure.
 

Curious Cdn

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petros

The Central Scrutinizer
Nov 21, 2008
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some would call it sloooow death

Its OK for seniors to call it quits and...

Senior suicide rate skyrocketing
Senior suicide rate skyrocketing - Senior Americans Association

Now they are cutting back on the opium...

Some People Still Need Opioids
The crackdown on pain medication prescribing is intended to help the addiction crisis—but it’s leaving chronic pain patients in untenable situations.
Cutting down on opioids has made life miserable for chronic pain patients.

go figure.
Chronic pain patients go to pain clinics these days. GPs can't do an opiate Rx any longer only a specialist can.
 

Bar Sinister

Executive Branch Member
Jan 17, 2010
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What he neglects to mention is that the only people that "save" are the ones buying lots of drugs that people that don't support Big Pharma will be forced to pay for. So unless they can get the prices down to realistic levels it is not "saving" anything, just making everyone pay for the benefit of a few.



We should be so lucky.

You of all people should be strongly supporting this plan. Or would you prefer provincial and federal health plans to continue paying top dollar for pharmaceuticals?
 

Tecumsehsbones

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Mar 18, 2013
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It's why the Department of Veterans' Affairs pays far less for drugs than Medicare/Medicaid. The VA is permitted to use its market power to bargain with the drug companies. Medicare/Medicaid is required by law to pay whatever the drug companies are charging.