[homeles_ot-l] Fwd: [New post] Parliamentary E-petition 959, which calls for national pharmacare during this federal government’s mandate

[Bill Dare]

Bill Dare posted: "Circulated Petition - From: "Morgan, Steve" <
steve.morgan at ubc.ca> I am writing to ask you to consider signing and
sharing Parliamentary E-petition 959, which calls for national pharmacare
during this federal government’s mandate. As you know, ph"
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Parliamentary
E-petition 959, which calls for national pharmacare during this federal
government’s mandate
<https://socialhealthpracticeottawa.wordpress.com/2017/05/04/parliamentary-e-petition-959-which-calls-for-national-pharmacare-during-this-federal-governments-mandate/>
by
Bill Dare
<https://socialhealthpracticeottawa.wordpress.com/author/socialhealthpracticeottawa/>

Circulated Petition -

From: "Morgan, Steve" <steve.morgan at ubc.ca>

I am writing to ask you to consider signing and sharing Parliamentary
E-petition 959
<https://petitions.parl.gc.ca/en/Petition/Details?Petition=e-959>, which
calls for national pharmacare during this federal government’s mandate. As
you know, pharmacare in Canada can and should be a public drug plan that is
universal, comprehensive, evidence-based, and sustainable
<http://pharmacare2020.ca/>.

This is not my petition, but it is important to get behind it. That is
because the federal government might interpret a lack of signatures as a
lack of public interest -- even though national polling data
<http://angusreid.org/prescription-drugs-canada/> and the Citizens’
Reference Panel on Pharmacare in Canada <http://www.crppc-gccamp.ca/> show
that a vast majority of Canadians support universal pharmacare!

As published in the Toronto Star today
<https://www.thestar.com/opinion/commentary/2017/05/02/why-a-universal-pharmacare-plan-makes-sense-now.html>,
here are my four main reasons why pharmacare is important enough to act on.
Please feel free to share this widely.

   1. * Access to essential medicines is a human right*

The most important reason for universal pharmacare in Canada is that access
to essential medicines is actually a human right according to the World
Health Organization (WHO)
<http://www.who.int/medicines/areas/human_rights/en/>. The WHO recommends
that countries protect that right in law and with pharmaceutical policies
that work in conjunction with their broader systems of universal health
coverage. Consistent with this, every other high-income country with a
universal health care system provides universal coverage of prescription
drugs. It is time Canada did the same.

   1. * Universal pharmacare would save lives *

Canada’s patchwork of private and public drug plans leaves millions of
Canadians
without coverage
<http://www.wellesleyinstitute.com/publications/low-earnings-unfilled-prescriptions/>.
As a result, Canadians are three to five times more likely
<http://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/7/1/e014287> to skip prescriptions because
of cost than are residents of comparable countries with universal
pharmacare programs. A 2012 study
<http://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/early/2012/08/08/dc12-0364>
estimated that inequities in drug coverage for working-age Ontarians with
diabetes were associated with 5,000 deaths between 2002 and 2008.
Nationally, this human toll would be equivalent to a major aviation
disaster happening several times per year.

   1. * Universal pharmacare would save money*

Canadians spend 50 percent more per capita
<http://www.oecd.org/els/health-systems/health-data.htm> on pharmaceuticals
than residents of the United Kingdom, Sweden, New Zealand and several other
countries with universal pharmacare programs. This amounts to spending $12
billion more each year and still not having universal drug coverage. Why?
Because the universal pharmacare programs in other countries use their
purchasing power to obtain better drug prices than our fractured system.
Among many examples of such price differences
<http://www.cmaj.ca/content/suppl/2017/02/22/189.8.E295.DC1/161082-res-3-at.pdf>,
a year’s supply of atorvastatin, a widely used cholesterol drug, costs
about $143 in Canada but only $27 in the United Kingdom and Sweden, and
under $15 in New Zealand.

   1. * Universal pharmacare would help Canadian businesses*

The rising cost of pharmaceuticals are a growing burden on Canadian
businesses. Part of the problem is that Canadian employers waste between $3
billion <http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/drug-costs-canada-1.3927989> and $5
billion
<http://www.benefitscanada.com/benefits/health-benefits/drug-plan-waste-costs-plan-sponsors-5-1-billion-report-39934>
per year because employment-related private insurance is ill equipped to
manage pharmaceutical costs effectively. Another part of the problem is
that the number of prescription drugs costing more than $10,000 per year
has grown almost ten-fold in the past decade
<http://www.pmprb-cepmb.gc.ca/en/news-and-events/consultations/current-major-consultations/rethinking-the-guidelines/discussion-paper>.
Because such costs can quickly render a work-related health plan
unsustainable -- particularly for small businesses -- it is best to manage
them at a province- or nation-wide basis.

*Nevertheless, universal pharmacare will not happen unless citizens speak
up*

Billions of dollars in savings to Canadian taxpayers, employers and
households equals billions of dollars of lost revenues to pharmaceutical
industry stakeholders. Those stakeholders will not make it easy for
government to implement universal pharmacare, no matter the benefit to
Canadians and the broader economy.

To make pharmacare a reality for Canada, citizens need to get informed and
involved. If they support the idea of universal, public pharmacare, they
need to let others, particularly elected officials and political
candidates, know they care and that they will support a government that
takes action.

*So, please, take the time to sign **Parliamentary E-petition 959*
<https://petitions.parl.gc.ca/en/Petition/Details?Petition=e-959>* and to
share this with your colleagues, friends, and family. *

Thank you!

Respectfully yours,

*Steve Morgan PhD*

Professor | Faculty of Medicine | School of Population and Public Health

The University of British Columbia | Vancouver Campus

Email: steve.morgan at ubc.ca | Web: www.pharmacare2020.ca  |  Twitter:
@SteveUBC <https://twitter.com/SteveUBC>

*“Every other developed country with a universal health care system
provides universal coverage of prescription drugs ... so should Canada!”*

*Bill Dare
<https://socialhealthpracticeottawa.wordpress.com/author/socialhealthpracticeottawa/>*
| May 4, 2017 at 10:05 am | Categories: Income Security & access to the
social determinants of health
<https://socialhealthpracticeottawa.wordpress.com/category/income-security-access-to-the-social-determinants-of-health/>,
Uncategorized
<https://socialhealthpracticeottawa.wordpress.com/category/uncategorized/>
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