Pharmacare program would save billions: report

[polly7]

Pharmacare program would save billions: report

CTV.ca News Staff
Date: Monday Sep. 13, 2010 8:10 AM ET
Canada's wildly varying provincial drug plans are not only inefficient and oftentimes unfair, they are overly expensive, contends a new report, which offers a national pharmacare program as an alternative.

The report, prepared for the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, was written by Carleton University professor and Harvard research fellow Marc-André Gagnon and released Monday.

It argues that with the power of bulk purchasing, a national plan could save the public coffers more than $10.7 billion if it adopted a drug-purchasing policy based on market competition.

"Canadians cannot afford not to have universal pharmacare," Gagnon said in a news release.

http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/Health/20100913/pharmacare-program-100913/


Prescription costs vary so much here it's amazing. I paid about 44.00 total for two prescriptions the other day for three months. My brother in Ontario pays nearly three times as much for the same drug as one of mine for the same time period. It's only smart to combine buying power and regulate these prices.

[Spazito]

1. Certainly makes sense to me! n/t

[glinda]

2. Here in America, every time I hear the word "open up for competition", everyone

then raises their rates and it is a race to the top. There is NO competition. It is a phrase to let the price hikes begin.