Justin Trudeau Hasn’t Delivered On His Pledge to Establish Public Pharmacare
Canada’s public health system is often seen as a model for the US. When it comes to pharmacare, however, Canada imitates its neighbor’s lousy practices, and Justin Trudeau has broken his pledge to establish a public prescription system that would be more just and more efficient.
Justin Trudeau has not kept his election promise to institute universal pharmacare in Canada. (Flickr)
Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government has not kept its election promise to institute universal pharmacare. In Canada, health care coverage still ends the moment one receives a prescription to fill. One in five Canadians report that they are unable to take their medication as prescribed due to out-of-pocket costs, whether they have insurance or not.
The New Democratic Party recently brought forward the Canada Pharmacare Act (Bill C-213) in a largely symbolic attempt to test the Trudeau government’s commitment. The bill’s failure was disappointing and spoke volumes about the Liberal Party, but it came as no great surprise.
Publicly funded, universal health care systems are undeniably superior to their private counterparts — not just from an ethical standpoint, but also in terms of basic efficiency. A well-run universal health care system can also contribute to a society’s wider sense of solidarity and public trust. The refusal of vested political and economic interests to recognize the advantages of universal health care is akin to maintaining that the Earth is flat.
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