“Pharmacare is a top-of-mind issue for many Canadians,” states Blomqvist. “As a share of overall health costs, prescribed drugs rose from 6.3 percent in 1975 to 13.4 percent in 2014,”
An expanded federal role in financing pharmacare would set the stage for wider coverage and greater cooperation in drug pricing, states a new report from the C.D. Howe Institute. In “Feasible Pharmacare in the Federation: A Proposal to Break the Gridlock,” authors Åke Blomqvist and Colin Busby propose a politically affordable way forward to start addressing the runaway drug prices paid by Canadians.
