The CIHI report of two years ago said that we were paying more for prescription drugs than for doctors. Now, the cost of physicians is a little bit more, but we're still talking about 30% and 32%.
No, we wouldn't be paying more for pharmaceuticals than for doctors, because we would base our national pharmacare program on efficiency, science-based evidence, and prescription habits. That, plus the bulk buying, is how we would reduce costs. You would have more than one prong here, and it would reduce your costs.
The goal is to have efficient prescribing habits, cover all Canadians, and reduce the costs. To do that, you have to have more than one prong.
As I mentioned in my notes, the costs in the last 20 years have gone up from $5 billion to $25 billion in drugs.