The government’s Pharmacare Bill has passed a key step towards becoming law and could pass the House of Lords next week.
Bill C-64, the National Pharmacare Implementation Framework, passed the Senate Social Affairs, Science and Technology Committee without amendments on Thursday. The bill will now proceed to a final vote on the Senate floor.
The bill was a condition of the now-expired Supply and Confidence Agreement between the NDP and the Liberals. A Senate third reading vote is scheduled for October 10th..
If the bill had been amended in committee, it would have been sent back to the House, a difficult and volatile minority chamber.
If passed, the bill would cover diabetes treatment and contraception in some states that have agreements with the federal government.
Last month, British Columbia became the first province to sign a pharmacare agreement with the federal government.
NDP House Minority Leader and health critic Peter Julian attended the bill’s point-by-point approval by a Senate committee.
“It doesn’t matter how you feel,” Julian said. “This is about how Canadians, especially Canadians with diabetes, are feeling…What they’re feeling is a sense of hope.”
Bill C-64 is billed by the federal government as the first step in a broader drug regime in the coming years. Canadians are set to go to the polls sometime next year, with Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poièvre voicing his opposition to the proposed single-payer plan, arguing it would force Canadians to abandon their private drug plans. did.
In February, federal officials told reporters at a background briefing that the government does not know how much this first phase of the pharmacare program will cost and that the final price will be determined by states and territories. A decision will only be made after negotiations.
When questioned, Health Minister Mark Holland estimated the cost at $1.5 billion.
At a Senate committee hearing on Sept. 18, Holland said there was “ambiguity” about how pharmacare would be administered. He later clarified his position in a letter to the committee chair, Sen. Ratna Omidvar, on Sept. 27, calling for universal, single-payer coverage.
“This coverage standard means that all residents of a participating state or territory will have free access to a wide range of contraceptives and diabetes medications, with no copayments or deductibles. Under this program, these “Drug costs are paid for and managed through public plans, not through a combination of public and private payers,” Holland said in the letter.
During Thursday’s committee meeting, Sen. Floriz Osler called for an amendment to add the phrase “public control” to the bill. She said she wanted to protect the pharmacare framework from future government efforts to change how the program is funded.
“The purpose of this amendment is not to delay, but to codify the minister’s intentions into law,” she said.
Her amendment was rejected by other senators.
“As we all know, the supply and confidence agreement no longer exists, so this timing is critical,” said Sen. Kim Pate of the Independent Senators Group.
“More importantly, the Government has been very clear, as evidenced by the Minister’s letter. Whatever ambiguity there was after the Minister’s evidence, the Minister has since It is clearly stated in the.
