Canada passes bill to cover birth control and diabetes drug costs for all Canadians

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwylw2ee05yo

28 Comments

  1. ProofByVerbosity on

    Anyone who slights this action and doesn’t acknowledge the good the NDP did here may want to get checked out for a bad case of partisanship

  2. conservatives have already vowed to scrap this, and Alberta is already picking a fight over it, vowing to opt out, but demanding the federal funds that would have covered the Albertan costs.

    It’s good progress, but it may be short lived (like the federal dental program) as the PP led CPC wants to undo all this stuff that might undermine their plans to keep selling this country out to the highest bidders.

    Canada has the second highest drug costs in the world, following the US (though the gap is quite large) and part of that is because we have tens of thousands of different buyers across the country. Drug companies use that to their advantage to profit enormously. We need a single national buyer who can negotiate all the pricing in a single point, but the CPC (and conservative provincial) plans for the future are widespread American style for-profit healthcare at every level

  3. Great first step. 

    Now to expand PharmaCare to everyone that needs it for essential medicines. It’s what Tommy Douglas always planned as the next step after Medicare but died before it could be introduced. 

  4. How about funding diet education….most cases of type 2 Diabetes is largely preventable by eating better

  5. Great news! I can’t imagine living in a developed nation that thinks that letting people die over insulin is somehow acceptable.

    Even if you don’t use these products – you almost certainly know someone that does. This is less stress for them, and more money in their pocket to spend on goods and services in your community.

  6. Adamantium-Aardvark on

    “But two provinces – Alberta and Quebec – have indicated they may opt-out of the programme, accusing Ottawa of interfering in provincial matters.”

    always the same two provinces causing trouble

  7. FoodForTheEagle on

    > Diabetes drugs covered include insulin – for people with type 1 and type 2 diabetes, which can cost between C$900 and C$1,700 a year – and Metformin, which helps lower blood sugar levels for people with type 2 diabetes.

    Can we also make Metformin available OTC for off-label use?

  8. They should also do HRT then. Nothing luxurious about being a middle aged woman having to pay through the roof when your estrogen naturally stops being produced by your body.

  9. Honestly, when it comes to universal healthcare it’s far cheaper to pay for the prevention vs paying for the illness. From a budgetary standpoint, paying for birth control for hundreds of people is probably cheaper than one hospital childbirth.

  10. Yeah that’s doable when your country isn’t giving away billions of dollars to foreign countries to help fight wars they shouldn’t be involved in. Aka Israel, Ukraine, etc. but the US will never do this because they rather continue funding the forever wars than actually helping its citizens.

  11. Accurate-Love- on

    Insulin prices without insurance here in the US is a death sentence for many. I wish our government, the one that always wants our votes, would pass bills like this.

  12. CrabPrison4Infinity on

    Nice to see some news that makes you feel good about being Canadian and aligns with our national values for once

  13. I guess it’s cheaper than regulating the processed foods and sugar’s that cause the Diabete’s.

  14. Unlucky_Formal_1201 on

    Cool. You’ll just have to wait 18 months to see the doctor and another 18 for them to be dispensed