In December, parties agreed to push back the original timeline, which would’ve seen legislation fully passed by the end of last year. The reticence on the Liberals’ part largely came down to cost.Ī full fledged pharmacare program would cost the government nearly $40 billion a year by the time it is fully up and running, the parliamentary budget officer estimates. “The NDP has been simply unceasing in our insistence that we build a system that constructs a single-payer formulary and a formula for pharmacare, and I can tell you that the legislation does that,” he said. Health critic Don Davies, who led the negotiations for the New Democrats, said the final pieces were put in place over the weekend. The NDP announced they clinched the negotiations late last week, in the lead-up to a negotiated March 1 deadline to table a bill. Its future seemed uncertain earlier this month amid a months-long stalemate over the wording of the legislation and the number of drugs they planned to launch with. Pharmacare is a central pillar of the political pact between the two parties, which has the NDP helping the Liberals stave off an election in exchange for progress on a list of shared priorities. Ottawa is also expected to launch a program to cover birth control and diabetes drugs and supplies for anyone with a health card, as a condition of a bargain struck with the New Democrats. Health Minister Mark Holland is expected to table a long-awaited bill Thursday meant to pave the way for national pharmacare and preserve a deal that secures NDP support for the government in the House of Commons.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |