19 April 2018 - A Commons committee is supporting the full funding of a national drug plan, a sign that the long-overdue idea is starting to gain traction.

Pressure for pharmacare is building. In Ontario, it has become an issue in the provincial election campaign. Federally, Finance Minister Bill Morneau has promised to look into it. Now a Commons committee has thrown its weight behind the idea of a universal, national program to provide all Canadians with necessary drugs at little or no cost.

Titled “Pharmacare now: Prescription medicine coverage for all Canadians,” the report by the Commons health committee is unusually bold for a political document. By calling for all medically necessary prescription drugs to be covered by medicare, it is recommending the biggest change in Canada’s premier social program since extra-billing by doctors was outlawed in 1984.

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