Harper calls for national Pharmacare :: Namibia Internet Gateway cc ::

Articles: Harper calls for national Pharmacare

Posted by admin on Tuesday, May 11, 2004 - 07:45 AM

Stephen Harper pushed back yesterday against the Liberal depiction of him as an enemy of medicare, proposing to expand the publicly funded health system by setting up a national drug plan.
The Conservative leader said he pictured a pharmacare program that would be run by the federal government and likely cover "catastrophic" drug costs -- hefty medication bills that create financial hardship for patients. But he did not rule out a plan that would encompass all existing provincial programs, which offer varying degrees of drug coverage to the elderly and welfare recipients. "Many people are struggling with the costs of pharmaceuticals, and pharmaceuticals have never been covered by basic health insurance," he said after introducing his Toronto-area candidates in the next election. "They have become, over the years, more and more a part of health treatment. We want to make sure that we do with pharmaceuticals the same thing we did with other health coverage, which is to ensure that no Canadian is denied necessary treatment because of inability to pay." Liberal campaign ads leaked to the media recently try to paint Mr. Harper as a right-wing extremist, suggesting, in part, that he favours for-profit health care. With that message undoubtedly in mind, Mr. Harper sounded at times more like an NDP leader in his speech yesterday in Toronto, delivering an emotional defence of universal medicare. He related how his own grandfather faced financial hardship for years after having to pay for a major operation for the leader's father. In contrast, Mr. Harper said he was in hospital repeatedly as a child himself because of asthma but, thanks to medicare, his parents did not face "crippling debt." Mr. Harper told reporters later, he is not opposed to the private sector delivering medical services, as long as they are paid for by the public system and available universally. "My concern is not to regulate the nature of management of these hospitals," he said when asked whether he would permit American-owned care facilities in Canada. "If they are delivering medically necessary services, their services are supposed to be covered by public health insurance.... That's what we would want to ensure." The concept of a national pharmacare program has been bandied about for years. Paul Martin, the Prime Minister, again proposed a pharmacare system in a speech last month. The NDP has also called for such a plan. By suggesting pharmacare be run by Ottawa, though, Mr. Harper will undoubtedly irritate some provinces, which guard their jurisdiction over health care jealously. But he said it only made sense for Ottawa to operate the plan, given that it already is responsible for regulating the pharmaceutical industry. Still, he said it would all be subject to negotiation with the provincial governments.

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