1997 - The National Forum on Health, chaired by Keith Spicer, recommends a national pharmacare program. “We call on governments to chart a course leading to full public funding for medically necessary drugs.”
1997 - The Liberal Red Book promises that, if elected, the party will “ensure that all Canadians have access to medically necessary drugs within the public health care system.”
2002 - A Senate committee, headed by Michael Kirby, recommends a catastrophic drug program. “The committee strongly supports the view that no Canadian should suffer undue financial hardship as a result of having to pay health-care bills.”
2002 - The Commission on the Future of Health Care in Canada, headed by Roy Romanow, recommends a catastrophic drug program. “Prescription drugs are an increasingly important part of our health-care system. But too many Canadians have no drug coverage at all, and existing provincial drug insurance coverage is uneven.”
2002 - A study shows that one in nine Canadians has inadequate drug coverage.
2003 - First ministers commit, in writing, to a catastrophic drug plan and Ottawa provides $16-billion in additional funding for drugs, primary care and home care. “No Canadian should suffer undue financial hardship for needed drug therapy.”
2004 - Ottawa and the provinces sign a $41-billion Health Accord that no longer ties them to specific programs like catastrophic drug coverage.
2004 - Ottawa and the provinces adopt a National Pharmaceuticals Strategy that includes a task force on catastrophic drug coverage.
2004 - Stephen Harper, on the campaign trail, endorses a catastrophic drug plan as proposed by the Kirby commission. “The New Conservatives ... propose to help individuals and provinces deal with soaring drug costs.”
2006 - A report shows six million Canadians have inadequate drug coverage, including 600,000 who have no drug coverage at all.
2008 - Provinces and territories issue a statement saying they hold a “common view that catastrophic drug coverage is as essential to Canadians as physician and hospital coverage” but that Ottawa has a “funding responsibility” to make it happen.
2008 - Liberal leader Stéphane Dion, on the campaign trail, promises to establish national standards for catastrophic drug coverage and to provide $900-million in federal funding.
2008 - The NPS task force estimates a national catastrophic drug plan would cost $5-billion.
2009 - The Health Council of Canada describes plans to reform drug access as a “prescription unfilled,” saying “catastrophic drug coverage is a critical social safety net.”
2010 - A poll commissioned by the Canadian Cancer Society shows 74 per cent of Canadians support a national catastrophic drug plan.
- André Picard
