Pharmacare would be 'win-win' for provinces and Ottawa, nurses union says

The head of the Nova Scotia Nurses' Union is hopeful that discussion about a national pharmacare program is on the horizon.

Last week, Canada's premiers met in Whitehorse for the annual summer Council of the Federation talks.

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Union president Janet Hazelton says, during that conference, the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions hosted a discussion with all but three provincial leaders on the topic of a Canadian pharmacare program.

People shouldn't be having to make that decision: do I eat or do I get my prescription filled?- Janet Hazelton

Hazelton said all of the premiers indicated they would support such a program, and would aim to have that topic tabled when they meet with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in October.

"It's a win-win for our province, for the federal government," Hazelton told CBC's Information Morning.

The province's nurses' union commissioned an economist to determine how much a federal pharmacare program could save Nova Scotia.

According to Hazelton, if Ottawa approves a targeted-funding approach to a national pharmacare program, it would save Nova Scotia $300 million.

"We'd be able to take that $300 million and re-invest it in crumbling infrastructure within our health-care system, or a more robust community, or better long-term care."

Feeding family or filling a prescription

If more drugs were covered under a national pharmacare program, Hazelton said it would also make Nova Scotians healthier and ease burdens on the health-care system overall.

Hazelton said nurses know that anywhere from 20 to 30 per cent of patients won't fill a prescription when discharged from their care because they can't afford it.

"We know that we have people on social services right now that don't want to go get a job because they don't want to lose the health-care funding for their drugs for their children," she said.

"People shouldn't be having to make that decision: do I eat or do I get my prescription filled?"

Bulk buying as part of the pharmacare program would help save a lot of money, Hazelton said, as well as regulate how much people have to pay.

'We're just too small a buyer'

She points to Australia, where government has a list of certain drugs it will pay for. The only way to get on that list is to have competitive prices.

We need to go there so that people can get whatever drugs they need at the best price.- Janet Hazelton

"Big pharma companies can't just discover a new drug, decide they're [going to] charge quadruple every other price for that drug. They wouldn't be able to get that drug on the list unless they were cost-competitive, or proved to have a significant improvement," she said.

"Currently, drugs are sold to different provinces for all different prices, so what Ontario pays for a blood pressure pill, we could be paying three times that in Nova Scotia, for no other reason other than we're just too small a buyer."

That's a big problem for Atlantic Canada, Hazelton said, because of the quantity of drugs needed to treat the "oldest, sickest population" in Canada.

"We believe that most drug companies … are not in favour of [pharmacare]. They believe that they should be able to produce and sell their medication for whatever the economy will bear," she said.

"We don't believe that. We believe that if we do it nationally, they could still make a profit, just not as big a profit. And we need to go there so that people can get whatever drugs they need at the best price they can get it."