National pharmacare ‘strategy’ to preserve existing system: Morneau
OTTAWA — Finance Minister Bill Morneau says the national pharmacare committee assembled this week will preserve the best parts of Canada’s existing drug plans, rather than abandon them in pursuit of a new, country-wide universal program.
Speaking a day after tabling his third budget, Morneau said Wednesday that the new pharmacare advisory council will explore a strategy on how to close gaps in the current patchwork to ensure all Canadians have access to the medications they need.
“We need to consider how we can best make use of our existing system — which, after all, for most people in this room, is probably working — but recognize that there are very significant gaps that we need to deal with,” Morneau told the Economic Club of Canada in Ottawa.
“We recognize that we need a strategy to deal with the fact that not everyone has access and we need to do it in a way that’s responsible, that deals with the gaps, but doesn’t throw out the system that we currently have.”