Expert panel's $3 billion plan challenges role of workplace benefits in funding prescriptions
A federal expert panel says Ottawa could cover more than 90 per cent of prescriptions in Canada through an essential medicines list, at a net new cost of about $3bn a year — but the politics around pharmacare are stalling that shift from private to public drug coverage.
According to The Canadian Press, the expert committee urged the federal government to fully fund a national list of essential medicines, run by an independent body, with prescriptions dispensed at no cost using a health card.
The committee estimated gross costs of $6bn to $10bn a year, but projected that savings from competitive purchasing and existing coverage would bring the added cost down to roughly $3bn annually.
Despite that roadmap, Health Minister Marjorie Michel has made no commitment to act.
As reported by The Canadian Press, she said her government is only “reviewing” the recommendations and stressed that expert panels are “non‑binding for the government,” while insisting pharmacare should still move through bilateral deals with provinces and territories.
New Democratic Party interim leader Don Davies — who helped negotiate the Pharmacare Act as part of the NDP–Liberal supply‑and‑confidence deal under former prime minister Justin Trudeau — called the federal response “shockingly dismissive” and “politically dishonest.”
He argued Ottawa must at least complete the law’s first phase, which targets coverage for contraceptives and some diabetes medications.
So far, only British Columbia, Manitoba, Prince Edward Island and Yukon have signed federal agreements for that initial phase, leaving a patchwork of coverage across the country.
More than 60 per cent of the $1.5bn set aside in the 2024 budget for this first phase is already committed to those four deals, and Prime Minister Mark Carney’s first budget added no new pharmacare funding.
The federal expert committee itself has struggled to gain traction with decision‑makers.
The Canadian Press reported that the group submitted its report to Michel in October and has since met with stakeholders and Davies, but no federal cabinet minister has met with the committee since the report became public.
Committee chair Nav Persaud of St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto told reporters that pharmacare is more important than ever in light of the trade war with the United States, which could cost Canadians jobs and employer benefits and push up drug prices through threatened tariffs.
Committee member Amy Lamb, executive director of the Indigenous Pharmacy Professionals of Canada, described the proposed model as “a nation‑building investment purposely constructed from Canadian‑made principles.”
The pressure is particularly acute in Ontario, where the Ford government has not yet signed on.
In a Queen’s Park news conference aired by CP24, New Democrat and Green MPPs and physicians called on Ontario to join the federal deal for free contraception and diabetes medications.
Speakers noted that B.C., Manitoba, P.E.I. and Yukon are already benefiting from “life‑saving and life‑affirming” coverage, while Ontarians still weigh prescriptions against groceries, rent or mortgage payments.
Hamilton Centre NDP MPP and family physician Robin Lennox said people routinely stand at pharmacy counters “wondering whether they’ll be able to fill” prescriptions and doing “a mental calculation” about whether they can afford needed medications and still eat, as broadcast by CP24.
She warned that when the province declines to pay at the pharmacy, it pays later “in our emergency departments and in our hospitals.”
Green Party MPP Aislinn Clancy told CP24 that more than half of Canadians live paycheque to paycheque, and rising underemployment, part‑time and gig work mean more people are losing employer‑provided drug benefits.
She said this gap hits young people, people living in poverty, migrants and seniors hardest, and pointed out that a month in a hospital bed costs tens of thousands of dollars — far more than many medications.
Clancy said studies show universal pharmacare would reduce pressure on the health‑care system, save taxpayer dollars and improve quality of life, and urged Ontario to follow the early‑signing provinces by expanding OHIP coverage and signing the federal pharmacare deal.
