Evidence of meeting #123 for Health in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was insulin.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Diabetes Advocate, Diabetes Canada
With the annual physical, just check everyone for diabetes. Everyone, when they have an annual physical, should be checked for diabetes. I love the idea of covering insulin and people not having to pay for it.
As an Individual
I don't know what I'd do with myself if I didn't have to pay for insulin.
As an Individual
I think everyone should be tested, exactly, regardless of family history or whatever. Things are changing, and we need to change with them.
To go back to what was said, free insulin would be amazing. I mentioned diabetic ketoacidosis and Karen just covered it, but the people who have died in the past, I think of them. It's not a fun death. I think of just the short times that I've had it. It is painful, excruciating. I know the warning signs now, if I go into it, because being on the pump we're actually at higher risk of that. It's not a pleasant thing. Diabetes is not a pleasant feeling, and having that is just horrific.
That would be amazing. You don't even understand.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bill Casey
We have to move along to Mr. Masse, but we have one more Liberal question. I'm not sure if somebody would like to ask that question after Mr. Masse. If someone has a bank of questions they'd like to ask, let me know.
Meanwhile, Mr. Masse, you have five minutes.
NDP
Brian Masse NDP Windsor West, ON
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
If a national pharmacare program covered insulin, make the case for what would change in your life. If you were trying to convince the general population of the need for a national pharmacare program that would cover insulin, tell us how that would change your life.
I'll leave it open.
As an Individual
How would it change my life? It would be like Christmas. It would be everything rolled into one. What would it mean for me? I'm 63. It would mean that I could look forward to seeing my four granddaughters and I could live with less anxiety and less stress. I would know that it was there for me. I wouldn't have to scramble. I wouldn't have to just about sell my socks for stuff. Having the right insulin too; that's the key. I need to have the right insulin, not the cheapest stuff on the market.
Basically it would give me hope, and it would give me a little bit more cash so I could eat.
NDP
Brian Masse NDP Windsor West, ON
No, there's nothing wrong with that, but I think it's important to recognize the income level of people. You aren't going to take the money—
Brian Masse NDP Windsor West, ON
—yes, and go to Hawaii or invest it in the New York Stock Exchange.
As an Individual
No, but I lived in New Zealand. I had my first daughter in New Zealand, and they had national pharmacare then, years ago.
As an Individual
—and they were better at managing my diabetes than Canada ever was.
I paid $5 to go to the doctor. You just went to the chemist then and got all your meds. It was absolutely heavenly. You went in and presented your scrips and no questions, no problems. If you had any issues, they dealt with them right there. That daughter will be 41 years old in two weeks. They're 40 years ahead of us.
NDP
Brian Masse NDP Windsor West, ON
Would you feel you would be a more productive contributor to society in general, not only in your family, but also in your lifestyle?
As an Individual
Oh, yes. I could do a lot more. Hopefully, it would help with the other disabilities I have, but the fact that I didn't have to worry about where every little bit was coming from, I can't begin to tell you what that would do for my life. It would just lift a big burden.
Right now I live every day to survive to get the next...I'm like a drug addict.
As an Individual
For insulin. It would be nice not to feel so criminal. I just want to be able to function.
As an Individual
Charlene's story is not solely hers. I think most of us have been in that position at one time or another. We have scrounged and not done what we needed to do because we knew we could not afford the amount of insulin we needed to get by.
As an Individual
It's sad, and the drain on society is that we end up with these complications. It's not right at that time either. It's years down the road, because that relationship I was in for those four years was well before my daughter. Those issues are compiled and get worse. Every bit like that helps to improve and makes us not have to struggle and feel that pain and that anxiety and the helplessness—
Diabetes Advocate, Diabetes Canada
I can relate to that because I worked in a pharmacy for 10 years. I'm very fortunate. My husband has a plan. It only covers 80% for the insulin, so still there's the 20%. Working in a pharmacy I came across several people who didn't have the money for insulin.
I would speak to the insulin reps on the side—they were numerous—and also speak to them about test strips and say I had four people who needed insulin and couldn't afford it. Because of the relationship we had I was able to get insulin and test strips for them, but that doesn't happen very often.
As Charlene said, it would be like Christmas. It would be magic. It would just be amazing to cover insulin for patients who need it. As someone said, there are different types of insulin. We're all on NovoRapid.