Evidence of meeting #14 for Health in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was cost.
A recording is available from Parliament.
5:20 p.m.
NDP
Don Davies NDP Vancouver Kingsway, BC
So is that a single-payer, first-dollar system like an extension of our medicare system into pharmacare, as Emmett Hall and Douglas envisioned?
5:20 p.m.
Commissioner and former Premier of Saskatchewan, Commission on the Future of Health Care in Canada, As an Individual
I would go that way, subject to what further evidence needs to be looked at. My report, as I say, is 14 years old, and at one stage the report actually talked about a possible deductible in the first $1,100.... I forget what the number was. Greg, was it $1,100 or something?
5:20 p.m.
Professor and Ontario Research Chair in Health Policy and System Design, Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, University of Toronto, As an Individual
For the catastrophic coverage.
5:20 p.m.
Commissioner and former Premier of Saskatchewan, Commission on the Future of Health Care in Canada, As an Individual
Yes, for the catastrophic. We decided to move this in a very tiny step. We'd do catastrophic care and then we would have a bit of a deductible: the first $1,400 or $1,500 for that would be your responsibility, and then over that, if it were really catastrophic care required, you'd be covered. It wasn't a pure pharmacare plan as I always envisioned it, but I thought that if we could get the foot in the door through the catastrophic coverage.... But more importantly, at the time 14 years ago, that was basically how we were evolving and made sense.
I think we're at the stage today where we can, through science, determine what the drug formulary should be, pay for it through the contributions of all of society based on our ability to pay, as taxes are, and determined by the doctors, the professionals in concert with their patients.
I mean, how many different kinds of Lipitors do we need? There may be some differences, and I refer to the doctors who are here, but I think the stats are quite clear. Maybe it's true that Johnny out of step with the army is the correct person this time around, but I don't think so when it comes to the army dealing with the pharmacare plan.
5:20 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bill Casey
That completes our day.
I want to thank the presenters very much.
I think you'd all be interested to know that as a committee we considered 17 items for study when we came together in our first meetings. The decisions were made the committee members on all sides, and we decided that pharmacare was one we'd like to have a look at and analyze. I think it's a credit to the members of this committee on all sides for focusing on this. Certainly it's of great interest to a lot of people.
Again, I want to thank you all very much for your participation. We've learned a lot.
Thank you, Dr. Dutt, for being here on screen and taking our picture.
5:20 p.m.
Commissioner and former Premier of Saskatchewan, Commission on the Future of Health Care in Canada, As an Individual
Congratulations to the committee. You're right on the number one job or task.
5:20 p.m.
Commissioner and former Premier of Saskatchewan, Commission on the Future of Health Care in Canada, As an Individual
Good luck to you.