The Alberta government has cautioned that the newly enacted Liberal pharmacare scheme will result in needless costs and may infringe on the province’s jurisdiction.
Alberta Minister of Health Adriana LaGrange issued a statement on the passing of the pharmacare law, Bill C-64, on Friday.
“Unfortunately, the federal government has yet to share its vision for the future of national pharmacare, beyond coverage for contraceptives and diabetes medications, and how pharmacare will be financially supported in the long term while respecting Alberta’s current offerings,” said LaGrange.
Alberta’s public drug programs cover more than 5,000 drugs, which LaGrange said is one of the most comprehensive programs in the country.
She added that the province intends to maintain its current benefit offerings. The Liberals can assist them in doing so but should not waste their time duplicating programs or creating unnecessary and costly administrative burdens, said LaGrange.
“Without meaningful consultation and true collaboration, Alberta will continue to call on the federal government to provide predictable, sustainable and unconditional health funding that aligns with provincial and territorial priorities, and respects our exclusive jurisdiction over the planning, organization and management of our health care systems,” she said.
The first phase of Canada’s pharmacare legislation covers diabetes and contraception medications.
Alberta announced its intent to opt out of the national pharmacare program in Feb. 2024, saying that the province was not consulted. Quebec has also previously signalled its intent to opt out of the federal pharmacare program, arguing that healthcare is within its provincial jurisdiction.
Quebec has the longest list of drugs covered by a public insurance plan, yet private plans still cover 59.6% more medications than the public option.
The Liberals’ 2024 budget proposed dedicating $1.5 billion over five years to develop the pharmacare act.
Between 2024-25 and 2027-28, the Parliamentary Budget Officer calculated that the total drug expenditure under pharmacare would cost between $33.2 billion and $38.9 billion annually, totalling $143.9 billion in the four years.
The total incremental cost to the public sector would be between $11.2 billion and $13.4 billion annually, totalling $49.1 billion for the four years.
The Liberals said in a press release on Thursday that pharmacare will help 3.7 million people in Canada living with diabetes have universal access to various medications that improve their way of life.
However, a previous study conducted by the Montreal Economic Institute showed that 21.5 million Canadians will have their insurance coverage jeopardized by pharmacare.
The study also showed that Canadians with private insurance obtain drugs within 226 days, compared to the 732 days it takes for those covered by public insurance to receive the same drugs.
The study also showed that while public plans across the country covered 54,954 unique drugs between 2018 and 2021, private plans covered 84,529.
A previous poll showed that the majority of Canadians don’t think pharmacare should be a priority but that the government should focus on wait times and other pressing concerns within the healthcare system.
Canada’s healthcare system has already experienced record wait times, and it was recently uncovered that the system will need $2 trillion to deal with the country’s ageing population.