It's going to have a huge human impact. I can tell you that we're already getting phone calls at our office from seniors who can't wait for the Canada dental benefit—even the one that was put in place in December—to be applicable to seniors. I just fielded a call today from somebody who was going on the CRA website and trying to get access.
This is a huge demand—a huge demand—and it's going to be very important in terms of providing better health care for people, better health outcomes and helping with affordability issues. There's no doubt that it's going to help millions of people. We do hope it becomes a universal program, but we applaud the excellent work. This is an historic expansion of our health care system.
But we want to keep the ball rolling. Pharmacare is next on the agenda. We are looking forward to a solid pharmacare act being brought forward in the fall. We really hope it takes the universal approach so that it melds very well with our already existing system, is not an add-on and blends right in.
As we know, this is also going to hit an affordability issue. One in five Canadians, almost as many as don't have dental, are having problems with affording their drugs. We don't want them to have that same choice: Do I buy food or do I take my medication? Filled prescriptions mean empty emergency rooms, and we know that—