44th Parl. 1st Sess.
May 6, 2024 11:00AM
Mr. Speaker, I am thankful for the opportunity to speak about Bill C-64 and about how this represents a historic milestone in the evolution of the Canadian health care system.
This bill and other investments made by our government will help millions of Canadians who are struggling to pay for their medication.
I was very thrilled when the Minister of Health, and many other incredible Canadians who have been advocating for a pharmacare program in Canada, joined in my community of Ottawa Centre, at the Centretown Community Health Centre, where, toward the end of February, we made the announcement on Bill C-64, on covering diabetes and contraception medication. One could see the excitement among people when that announcement was made in my community.
In fact, I have been working on this issue for over a decade now, during my time as a member of provincial Parliament in Ontario. I was part of a Liberal government that brought something that we called OHIP+. That “plus” covered medications for young people, and then, we were moving on to cover medications for seniors. It was really unfortunate that the Conservative government under Doug Ford cancelled that incredible program because it allowed for care for so many Ontarians.
However, I am thrilled that we are taking this important step here at the federal level.
In 2021, Statistics Canada found that one in five adults in Canada did not have the insurance they needed to cover their medication costs. This means that over 20% of adults in Canada face out-of-pocket drug costs that create a financial burden. This can lead to people sacrificing their basic needs, such as buying groceries or heating one's home, in order to afford their medications. It can also lead people to ration their medications, causing them worse health outcomes. This is not acceptable and I do not think that this is the kind of country any of us want to have.
Choices like whether to fill a prescription have serious consequences. Whether skipping meals or skipping doses, the decision to go without can create a cascade of negative impacts on a person's health and can increase the burden on our health and our social safety nets.
We can and we must do better. That is why we introduced Bill C‑64 and proposed this first step toward universal pharmacare.
Our commitment to address the accessibility and affordability of medication can be seen with the various initiatives we have implemented with respect to national pharmacare. In addition to the introduction of the pharmacare act, which includes a commitment to work with provinces and territories to ensure universal access to contraception and diabetes medications, we also established a partnership with P.E.I. to improve the affordability of prescription medications, implemented the first-ever national strategy for drugs for rare diseases and established a Canadian drug agency.
Let me start with the pharmacare act, which outlines a way forward toward national universal pharmacare in Canada. Bill C-64 recognizes the critical importance of working with the provinces and territories, which are responsible for the administration of health care. It also outlines our intent to work with these partners to provide universal, single-payer coverage for a number of contraception and diabetes medications.
This bill is an important step toward improving health equity, affordability and outcomes, and could help reduce health care system costs over the long term.
Coverage for contraceptives would mean that nine million Canadians of reproductive age would have better access to contraception, reducing the risk of unintended pregnancies and improving their ability to plan for the future. We are a government that has always and will always recognize that autonomy over one's body and the ability to control one's own sexual health is a matter of fundamental justice.
Contraception is a key component of individual autonomy. It is an essential component of reproductive health and contributes to advancing gender equality.
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Cost has consistently been identified as the single most important barrier to accessing contraception and the cost is unevenly borne by women, people with low incomes and young people, all of whom are more likely to work in part-time or contract positions and often lack access to private coverage. Studies have demonstrated that publicly funded, no-cost universal access to contraception can lead to public cost savings. The University of British Columbia estimates that no-cost contraception has the potential to save the B.C. health care system approximately $27 million per year. Having safe, reliable birth control represents freedom and safety. However, these costs continue to be a barrier. With Bill C-64, we are taking action to remove the barrier.
The same cost reduction principle applies to diabetes medication. Diabetes is a complex disease that can be treated and managed with safe, effective medication.
However, one in four Canadians with diabetes have reported not following their treatment plan due to cost. Improving access to diabetes medications will help improve the health of 3.7 million Canadians living with diabetes and reduce the risk of serious, life-changing health complications, such as blindness or amputations.
Beyond helping people with managing their diabetes and living healthier lives, if left untreated or poorly managed, diabetes can lead to high and unnecessary costs to the health care system due to diabetes and its complications, including heart attack, stroke and kidney failure. The full cost of diabetes to the health care system could exceed almost $40 billion by 2028.
Independent of the legislation, we have announced that we will work with provinces and territories on a diabetes devices fund. This fund would ensure that people with diabetes have access to the medical devices and supplies they need, such as syringes, test strips, glucose monitoring devices and insulin pumps. This, combined with the framework outlined in Bill C-64 for universal single-payer coverage for first-line diabetes medications, will help ensure that no person with diabetes in Canada is forced to ration their medication or compromise their treatment.
I previously mentioned our excellent work with P.E.I. and how this $35-million investment is focused on improving affordable access to prescription drugs while at the same time informing the advancement of a national universal pharmacare. The work accomplished by Prince Edward Island has been outstanding. Since last year, P.E.I. has expanded access to over 100 medications to treat a variety of conditions, including heart disease, pulmonary arterial hypertension, multiple sclerosis and cancer, and is saving millions of dollars in out-of-pocket costs for P.E.I. residents.
On a national level, we launched the first-ever national strategy for drugs for rare diseases in March 2023, with an investment of up to $1.5 billion over three years.
As part of the overall investment of $1.5 billion, we are making up to $1.4 billion available to the provinces and territories over three years through bilateral agreements.
This funding will help to improve access to new and emerging drugs for Canadians with rare diseases as well as support enhanced access to existing drugs, early diagnosis and screening for rare diseases. This will help ensure patients with rare diseases have access to treatment as early as possible for a better quality of life.
I want to quickly mention that, in December of last year, we announced the creation of the Canadian drug agency, which will provide the dedicated leadership and coordination needed to help make Canada's drug system more sustainable and better prepared for the future.
This is an incredible opportunity for Canadians coast to coast to coast, working alongside provinces and territories, to allow for pharmacare, especially when it comes to contraception and diabetes. This is the beginning of building a more robust health care system that will work for all Canadians. I am excited to support this bill, and I encourage all my colleagues to do the same.
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- May/6/24 9:04:50 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would suggest to the member that it would be incompetent for any government not to invest in health care for Canadians.
I would ask the member, if he thinks that this is wasteful spending, if he would cut the spending. Would he not provide pharmacare for Canadians? What else would he cut? Would he cut the Canadian dental care plan, which is now helping millions of seniors, just starting a few days ago, and has the incredible potential of improving people's lives? Is he going to cut $10-a-day child care, which is helping so many families? I would suggest to the member that it would be incompetent for any government not to invest in the important needs of Canadians by making their lives more affordable.
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- May/6/24 9:06:24 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I will suggest to the member that this is an incredible opportunity for us, as a federal government, to work closely with provinces and territories. We have much to learn from Quebec. The member for Winnipeg Centre mentioned a few things earlier in her debate. Quebec has been a pioneer and a leader, whether it is pharmacare or child care. We have an opportunity to work with each other, to learn from each other and to replicate the models that work best for all Canadians.
Our federation works best when all orders of government, in this case, federal and provincial governments like that of Quebec, are working together to find solutions for all Canadians, whether they live in Quebec or elsewhere.
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Mr. Speaker, I want to first thank the member for Nunavut, along with the member for Bruce—Grey—Owen Sound, for joining me on Sunday in support of Christie Lake Camp, which is a worthy organization in Ottawa, in my community, raising $20,000 to support kids from priority neighbourhoods. I must say the member for Nunavut is an excellent basketball player, so it was a great afternoon.
I agree with the member that we need to catch up with many countries that allow for free contraception. It is about the autonomy of women. It is making sure that women are able to make decisions about their own lives. By passing Bill C-64, we will take the very important step of making sure that Canada really values women and gives them the autonomy they deserve as equal citizens.
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