The future of the NDP’s supply and confidence agreement with the Liberals may depend on competing proposals for a drug and health bill the two parties struck over the weekend, NDP health critic Don Davis said Tuesday. .
Davis said one of the final issues still unresolved in the bipartisan negotiations on pharmacare is who will pay for the drugs: private or public insurers, or as the sole price negotiator and buyer. He said the federal government is involved.
New Democrats are pushing for a single-payer pharmacare system, which they say would yield better results because the federal government, as the sole purchaser, could use bulk purchases to lower drug prices. claims.
The New Democratic Party claims the Liberals balked at adopting a single-payer model because of the costs, which could run into the billions of dollars.
“So far they have not wanted to commit to single payer,” Davis said. “Of course we have drawn a red line in the sand and we have to build that system.”
The introduction of the Pharmacare Act was a condition set by the NDP when it entered into the Supply and Confidence Agreement with the federal Liberals. Under the deal, the New Democratic Party would back a minority government with key votes in the House of Commons to block early elections in exchange for moves on NDP policy priorities.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh told reporters on Tuesday that if the Liberals “break the deal” on pharmacare, the New Democratic Party will now negotiate separately with the government on key votes.
“If they break the agreement, they leave the agreement. Then they can expect nothing from us,” he said. “We negotiate every vote at once.”
The federal government has agreed to submit a pharmacare bill by March 1st.
Mr Davis said he was in daily contact with Health Minister Mark Holland via email and text messages.
“We exchanged proposals over the weekend, and you know we’re getting closer to a decision on whether we can reach an agreement,” Davis told reporters. “I think we are very close to reaching an agreement.”
Under the original terms of the Supply and Confidence Agreement, the government was to draft legislation outlining the principles of pharmacare and plans to begin covering some medicines by 2025. The parties recently agreed to extend the deadline until March 1. And the Netherlands said it had “every confidence” that the government would be able to deliver on the policy by the deadline.
According to the text of the Supply Confidence Agreement, governments are not required to “develop a national formulary and bulk purchasing plan for essential medicines by the end of the agreement.”
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NDP health critic Don Davis says Canadians need to know soon whether his party and the Liberals can reach an agreement on pharmaceutical care.
Mr Davies said the New Democrats were not calling for national insurance coverage for all medicines at once. He said the party was satisfied with starting with specific drugs and gradually expanding coverage.
“We are ready to start in a phased manner. As you know, one of the suggestions was to start with essential medicines,” he said.
Davis spoke after attending a gathering of health care advocates Wednesday. Frontline health care workers, patients, labor leaders, and advocates gathered on Parliament Hill to protest the privatization of health care and call for universal pharmacare.
Canada is the only developed country in the world with a universal, publicly funded system that does not cover prescription drugs.
Shin also attended the rally. In a press conference, he denied claims that the New Democratic Party is calling on the government to start funding the pharmacare program in March.
“This is completely liberal spin,” Singh said. “They know that what we are asking for is a legal framework…We will never ask for the entire budget to be in place.”
While Singh downplayed the need for a budget commitment in March, an NDP official who was not authorized to speak publicly told CBC in January that the NDP had asked the Liberals to provide some support for conditions such as diabetes. He said he requested that life-saving drugs be started.
In 2019, a federal advisory committee led by former Ontario Health Minister Eric Hoskins concluded that universal, single-payer public drug care would require the federal government It estimated it would cost $3.5 billion and, if fully implemented, $15.3 billion.
Holland was in Yellowknife on Tuesday. sign two medical agreements In collaboration with the Government of the Northwest Territories. He declined to comment on talks with the New Democratic Party, saying he did not want to negotiate publicly.
“Once we introduce the bill, we will be able to talk about all the different conspiracies,” he said. “It’s a bit of a disadvantage that the Democratic Party of Japan is in a position to share all its internal thoughts, but I can’t do the same.”
Holland said the pending bill does not have everything some want and the government is not in a position to shoulder the huge costs. Mr Holland said he would be able to explain the party’s position at the end of negotiations.
