Should The Government Of Canada Introduce A National...

CREATION A NATIONAL CATASTROPHIC DRUG TRANSFER ISSUE: Should the government of Canada introduce a national pharmacare program? RECOMMENDATION: Canada should create a new National Catastrophic Drug Transfer, which should be financed using the Commission on the Future of Health Care in Canada’s suggested financing scheme. BACKGROUND: The National Forum on Health (NFH), active from 1994 to 1997 under the direction of Prime Minister, Jean Chrà ©tien, sought to find ways to address healthcare and the health of Canadians. (1) Among the long list of health related issues addressed by the NFH, the recommendation of a publically funded pharmacare program. This call has been echoed again by the Commission on the Future of Health Care in Canada, (2)†¦show more content†¦(4) However, as these programs are administered by one level of government, with no requirements to meet a uniform standard, public drug coverage can vary widely. The Canada Health Act (CHA) underpins the contemporary expectations that the Canadian people have for public healthcare in Canada; it sets out the five conditions that provinces meets in order to receive federal funding, the Canada Health Transfer (CHT). These conditions are: public administration, comprehensiveness, universality, portability, and accessibility. These conditions are set by the federal government, but are not binding for any province to follow, provinces must voluntarily agree to sign up. The Constitution Act of 1867 divided powers in Canada, gives the control of healthcare to the provincial governments (S. 92 (7)). The federal government has greater ability to tax, than it has requirements to spend, when compared to the provinces. The 2015 Canadian Budget notes that, â€Å"†¦according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), nearly 50 per cent of all tax revenues in Canada were collected by provincial, territorial and local governm ents†¦Ã¢â‚¬  which is a higher share than other federations such Switzerland, the US, or Germany. (5) Of course, this does means that 50% of all tax revenues in Canada go to just one level, and a level that is not required to pay directly for expensive areas of public policy, such as education or