Canada's New Pharmacare Plan Covers These Key Drugs & Some Provinces Aren't Happy About It
It could save you a lot of money!
A pharamcist explaining a prescription drug.
Canadians will soon be able to get key prescriptions drugs for no out-of-pocket cost, as the feds have just announced details of a new national pharmacare plan.
The deal is all but guaranteed to pass through all the political hurdles it needs to clear, as the federal Liberals and the NDP have already agreed to team up and make it happen. In fact, pharmacare was a big demand for NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh when he agreed to support back Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government through to next year.
“This is historic. This is the dream of our party since the conception of our party," Singh said on Thursday at a news conference, adding that the deal is "a win for everyone."
But what does a national pharmacare plan mean for you?
Once the national pharmacare plan is underway, you can expect 100% coverage for the following medical expenses:
- Oral birth control pills
- Copper IUDs
- Hormonal IUDs
- Contraceptive injections
- Hormonal implants
- Hormonal vaginal rings
- Emergency contraceptives
- Insulin
- Diabetic combination formulations
- Insulin Secretagogues
- Biguanides
- SGLT2 inhibitors
- Diabetes supplies including pumps, cartridges, pens and syringes
Each province will have to approve the specifics under these categories, and Health Canada has shared lists of the contraceptives and diabetes supplies that are up for discussion.
Under the single-payer plan, all you'll need to do is show your provincial health card and the applicable medication will be fully covered. This will to everyone, regardless of income.
"Everyone in our country will get free diabetes medication," Singh said. "In our country, everyone will have access to free birth control because of New Democrats."
However, not everyone will get to benefit from the national pharmacare pan. Alberta and Quebec have already said they won't participate in the deal because they'd rather get the money and divvy it up themselves. The rest of the provinces will have to negotiate with the feds before the plan can come into effect, so it could take some time before you start seeing the savings at your local pharmacy.
The federal pharmacare plan is expected to cost the government about $40 billion per year.
Roughly 7.5 million Canadians lack health insurance and are paying out-of-pocket for their prescription medications, according to a 2021 Statistics Canada report.
The NDP says this is just a "first step" and they want to push for even more drugs to be covered in the future.
This article's cover image was used for illustrative purposes only.