Not under the ReformaTories, I expect

[james_davis_nicoll]

It's a buzzword in the medical community, although one that hasn't quite caught fire yet with Canadians at large: pharmacare, a national program that would see prescription drugs covered through a publicly funded system rather than out of pocket.

Comments

[dewline.livejournal.com]

No, not likely under any government they're running. And they'll likely use the next federal budget to further undermine any fiscal capacity the federal government still has to undertake such a project, and in such a way as to hobble efforts to restore said capacity for however long they're kept out of office after 2015.

If the election happens on schedule with a clean outcome.

[(Anonymous)]

I'm shocked that Canada doesn't already have it.

[joenotcharles.livejournal.com]

Canada's vaunted health care system has a bunch of holes. Dental and optical aren't covered either, for instance.

Quebec has provincial pharmacare.

EDIT: to be more precise, Canada doesn't have a national health care system - it has a set of minimum standards each province must follow. Quebec exceeds those standards by also covering prescription drugs. I don't know if any other provinces cover dental and optical; the two I've lived in didn't.

[graydon saunders (from livejournal.com)]

At one time, Ontario covered optometrist's visits as part of OHIP.

Similarly, social assistance had provision for prescription eyewear. Mike Harris got rid of both, and we may hope he will be half-blind and stumbling all through Hell.

[dewline.livejournal.com]

I used to benefit from that coverage re: eye exams.

Used to.

Eyesight is still not a luxury item despite the fantasies of certain political factions.