About 90% of nurses are unionized, so they are not worried about themselves. They are worried about their patients, and that's why they gave us a mandate to work on a national pharmacare program.
As a union negotiator, I remember the days of negotiating with an insurance company when we had to beg to have a smoking cessation program, but the plan couldn't afford it because of the usage. We represent a membership that is 92% women. We could not add contraceptives. We won that fight.
I have a very small staff team here in Ottawa, but because it is so small, our plan is very restrictive. There are so many rules and so many restrictions that I'm just glad no one is really sick, because they wouldn't be covered properly. That is the game we play with insurance.
However, as a negotiator, I also know we will be at tables and asking for.... For example, I'd expect pharmacare to provide four pills a day, but an insurance company will provide the richer pill of one pill a day. When we talk to our members about it, they understand that. Their dear commitment is to those children who can't have puffers and are asthmatic, or to those children and parents who can't afford the better diabetic care programs. That's what they want us all to work on.