An HIV/AIDS activist group is calling upon all federal parties to include a universal drug coverage plan in their election platforms.
The Canadian Treatment Action Council (CTAC) say they are working with a coalition of patient groups, researchers, patient-service organizations, activist, doctors and other health care professionals to put a national drug plan on the election agenda.
The group says Canada’s patchwork of public and private drug coverage systems means that many Canadians fall through the cracks.
“People are essentially suffering and dying because of a lack of political will to change a broken system,” says Louise Binder, Chair of the CTAC. “It is unacceptable and a disgrace that, in Canada, many individuals spend exorbitant sums, often selling homes or going into debt, in order to pay for prescription medicines.”
The coalition points out that national universal drug programs have become standard in developed countries, including Austria, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, and New Zealand.
They say politics is the only real barrier Canadians face to having the same.
OPSEU Diablogue 