Health committee  Thank you. Mr. Chair, committee members, on behalf of the Heart and Stroke Foundation, I'd like to thank you for the opportunity to appear before you and to share our perspectives on the development of a national pharmacare program in Canada. My name is Lesley James, and I'm the

Health committee  I think it needs to be a phased approach. We're not going to solve this in a short time frame. Creating a vision with defining principles that we're striving to work towards is important. The consultation piece is very important too, so that's getting the patient voice and learni

Health committee  I don't know that figure but there have been studies in Canada and elsewhere in the world, showing that issues with cost quite often lead to non-adherence, which then increases the risk for patients presenting with heart attacks in emergency departments. We are seeing that, ove

Health committee  I think prescription drug use is increasing throughout the world and it is not unique to Canada. It's increasing in cost and it's an increasing proportion of our health care spending. That's the concern for the Heart and Stroke Foundation.

Health committee  I can't speak to that. I think that's a clinical question.

Health committee  I don't want to say which one is doing it the best and which one is doing it the worst. I think what would work for Canada is looking at our needs and our context, considering the fact that we do have private insurance already. I think the U.K. has an interesting model where th

Health committee  I'm speaking as an individual. I studied part time in the U.K. I think it's quite wonderful that you access all medications without major service charges to individuals. There is an option to top-up with private insurance through employers.

Health committee  I think there needs to be a balance in Canada. Given that we've had this system in place for so long, there needs to be consultation to see what would work best going forward.

Health committee  Not that I'm aware of, no.

Health committee  I did mention examples of people unable to access necessary and basic prescriptions for cardiovascular disease who skipped doses or are not adherent and that results in increased rates of heart attack presentation in emergency rooms. We've been able to reduce the risk of mortali

Health committee  Yes. Both morbidity and mortality are.

Health committee  It's a fantastic question. We have done things of that nature. Eighty per cent of heart disease and stroke is preventable through lifestyle modification, so changing physical activity levels, remaining smoke free, and most importantly changing a person's nutrition. We need to mak

Health committee  It's a great point. I think the World Health Organization's list of essential recommended medicines was compiled for a reason. They are cost-effective, they'll likely improve population health in the long term, and that's a first stepping stone for us as Canadians. I'm quite plea

Health committee  Perhaps we have that in place in Canada already, or perhaps there's something different.

Health committee  I think Canadians who do that are rewarded with good health already, and that in itself is the reward. Heart and Stroke believes that there are culprits that lead to poor population health, such as tobacco, sugary drinks, and processed food. It may be worth increasing the price