BC FORUM News - From The Advocate, Winter 2018

Pharmacare for everyone: Winning this long battle won’t be easy

From the front page

See photos here.

When delegates to the National Pensioners Federation staged a rally on the steps of the Saskatchewan legislature in Regina it was one more indication that momentum for a national Pharmacare program is building.

“This is unfinished business,” says Diane Wood, President of the B.C. Federation of Retired Union Members (BC FORUM).

“Universal coverage for needed prescription drugs – outside hospitals – should have been an integral part of public health care from the beginning,” she said.

“It’s so clear. National Pharmacare would improve health outcomes and save Canadians billions of dollars every year. Yet despite all the studies and reports since Medicare was introduced, it hasn’t happened. We’re still stuck in 1966. That must change.”

On the other hand, the enormously inefficient private insurers who sell drug coverage in Canada like things the way they are.

The report of the advisory council on Pharmacare, expected in the spring, will be critical in determining whether people or profits come first.

Read more of this Special BC FORUM report:

From the President, Diane Wood - from page 3

It’s time for decisive action - from page 7

It’s time for pharmacare. And it must be universal, covering all Canadians. By Don Davies, MP Vancouver Kingsway - from page 8