(Ottawa) The future drug insurance program will have to take government finances into account, warns federal Health Minister Mark Holland. The New Democrats are threatening to withdraw their support from the minority Liberal government if they do not obtain a fully public and universal program whose implementation would exceed 10 billion annually.
“I think there are legitimate questions about what is possible within our financial framework and I think Canadians expect us to be prudent,” said Minister Holland upon his arrival at the parliament on Monday.
He said he was ready to make compromises, but did not want to specify whether the government will comply with the New Democrats’ ultimatum. The end of the agreement between the Liberals and New Democrats could threaten the survival of Justin Trudeau’s government for the first time since its signing in 2022.
“We expect the Liberals to keep their promise. This is our red line,” reiterated New Democratic Party (NDP) health critic Don Davies.
New Democratic delegates meeting at a convention in Hamilton over the weekend unanimously adopted a resolution calling for the Liberals’ bill, expected this fall, to lay the foundations for a “universal, comprehensive and entirely audience “. They reject any two-tier system that would include private insurance companies as is currently the case in Quebec.
“In 1997, the Liberals promised Canadians public drug insurance during the election campaign,” recalled Mr. Davies. On three occasions, delegates at their conventions in 2016, 2018 and 2021 voted in favor. »
As time passes, the chances that a bill to create such a program will be adopted by the end of the year are diminishing, as provided for in the agreement.
If the New Democrats tear it apart as they threaten to do, the Bloc Québécois could find itself with the balance of power. “It will give more ascendancy to Quebec,” recognized its leader Yves-François Blanchet.
He is ready to support a bill on drug insurance only if the Quebec government can exercise its right of withdrawal with full compensation. “If Quebec does not have a check, it is clear that we will not support that,” he said.
However, the federal government insists on associating performance indicators with the check for 196 million that it will pay to the provinces over ten years for health care. It could therefore also decide to include conditions on the sums that would eventually be allocated to prescription drug insurance.
A new analysis from the Parliamentary Budget Officer released Thursday estimates that establishing a public, universal drug insurance program across the country in January would cost $11.2 billion in the first year and would rise to $13. 5 billion five years later.
Savings of $1.4 billion would be generated in the first year because the government would be able to negotiate a wholesale price. They would rise to 2.2 billion in 2027-2028.