by John W. Warnock
November 5, 2021
http://www.actupinsask.org
The issue of the
availability of prescriptions drugs has arisen in this election.
The NDP has proposed
a universal program where these
drugs would be available to all for a cost of $15 per prescription.
The Saskatchewan Party has countered with a proposal for a new drug
program which would be targeted to those who would be less able to
pay. For many years under the senior’s drug plan those with low
incomes received subsidies.
Janice MacKinnon, the former NDP minister of finance, says we cannot afford
the NDP plan and that all social programs should be shifted to only supporting
those in real need. Universality is an outdated concept.
The NDP program has been endorsed by the Saskatchewan Federation of Labour
and the Saskatchewan Health Coalition. But the NDP plan dodges a most important
issue. What do we do about the high costs of drugs, the domination of the industry
by large foreign-owned corporations which operate as a cartel, and the restrictions
on generic drugs imposed on us by NAFTA?
This issue is addressed by economist Judith Maxwell in her column in the Globe
and Mail Report on Business of this date. Maxwell is no radical, one of the
Liberal elite around Ottawa. She points out that Canadian businesses who are
responsible for providing drug coverage for their employees have done a much
better job at getting lower cost drugs than have provincial governments. This
issue was addressed by the Ministerial Task Force on the National Pharmaceutical
Strategy which reported in 2006. But the provincial governments have taken
no action.
Maxwell argues that “no government should expose itself to the financial
risks of catastrophic drug insurance without a parallel strategy to control
the costs of drugs.” She argues that the provinces should “work
together to use their market power to negotiate better prices for drugs.” In
doing so they “have to overcome their reluctance to extract full value
from both the big international pharmaceutical companies and the Canadian-owned
generic producers.” She suggests that the provinces join together and
create a buying syndicate to bargain for volume discounts.
The Green Party of Saskatchewan proposed a different strategy in its briefs
to the Romanow Commission and the provincial commission on health policy. They
proposed the creation of a Crown corporation to buy prescription drugs from
all sources, including countries like Brazil, India and Cuba, which have very
good state programs for producing essential drugs and making them available
to those in need. The Greens suggested that a provincial Crown corporation
could negotiate an agreement with Cuba: in return for Saskatchewan exports,
we would import cheap drugs. Twenty-five years ago this would not have been
seen as a radical proposal, just common sense.
John W. Warnock is a Regina political economist and political activist.
John W. Warnock
2156 Retallack St.
Regina, SK
S4T 2K4
(306) 352-5282
http://www.johnwarnock.ca