The governing liberal party has committed to introducing pharmacare legislation as part of a confidence deal with the NDP. This follows analysis, discussion, and debates on whether a single payer system or a take a fill the gaps approach would be better for Canadians, the healthcare system, and the economy, but little in the way of a concrete plan for implementation. A recent report out from the parliamentary budgetary claims a single payer approach would cost over 30 billion but lead to economy-wide savings due to better price negotiations. It’s a critical time to revisit different perspectives on where we go from here, in terms of improving access to prescription drugs.

• Overview of the current political landscape for National Pharmacare
  • Identifying Canadian Drug Transition Agency’s mandate and what was accomplished
• Analyzing pros and cons of the single payer approach
• Anticipating potentially transformative outcomes for the private payer market
• Identifying limitations to a national formulary in relations to high-cost innovative drugs and therapies