Ottawa’s health department has quietly acknowledged it has no legal obligation to negotiate pharmacare agreements with provinces or territories, despite Parliament passing national pharmacare legislation more than a year ago.Blacklock's Reporter says a Dec. 25 internal memo to Health Minister Marjorie Michel states the federal government is under no requirement to sign bilateral deals covering contraception and diabetes medications, even though Bill C-64, An Act Respecting Pharmacare, became law 14 months earlier.“To be clear, the Act does not require the Government of Canada to sign bilateral agreements for contraception and diabetes medication with all provinces and territories,” the memo said, adding that federal officials are instead “focused on fiscal discipline.”The Pharmacare Act establishes funding for selected drugs and directs cabinet to “work toward the implementation of national universal pharmacare,” but sets no deadline and imposes no binding requirement to reach agreements with every jurisdiction.According to the memo, only four jurisdictions — Manitoba, British Columbia, Prince Edward Island and Yukon — currently have pharmacare agreements with Ottawa providing universal, single-payer, first-dollar coverage for certain contraception and diabetes drugs..“The Pharmacare Act provides a broad framework with general principles to guide collaboration on initiatives related to drug coverage in Canada,” the department wrote. “In the face of difficult financial pressures, we are focused on fiscal discipline and building Canada’s economy.”The note added that restraining federal spending would eventually allow Ottawa to “spend” to protect pharmacare.New Democrat leader Don Davies has accused the Prime Minister of abandoning pharmacare commitments made to Canadians. Speaking in the Commons on Nov. 25, Davies said the government’s budget failed to deliver on promises enshrined in law.“This budget does not allocate a single dollar for the government to honour its commitment from the last Parliament to sign agreements with every province and territory so seniors can get the pharmaceutical medication they need with their health card, not their credit card,” Davies said. .“The Liberals have failed to keep that promise.”Internal Privy Council research conducted before Bill C-64 was passed suggested pharmacare was not a top-of-mind issue for many Canadians. Focus group participants were largely unaware of the legislation and ranked prescription drug costs below concerns such as health worker shortages and long wait times.While many participants believed most Canadians already had employer-provided drug coverage, the research found concern that medications remained prohibitively expensive for those with partial or no coverage at all.
