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Pharmacare bill heads to Senate after clearing House · Kvetch & Release

• 0:02
  Bobby. Thanks folks, we're back. John Lackey here on AM eight hundred
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  cklw as I said that Pharmacare bill is heading to the Senate. It cleared
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  not one, not two, but three readings in the House of Commons.
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  That's what it's got to do, quite frankly. Now it goes to the
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  Senate for sober second thought and debate. This is a bill that is the
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  result of negotiations between the Liberals and the new New Democrats, and it would
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  see the FEDS offering coverage of some contraceptives and diabetes medication, setting the stage
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  for a future full fledged universal Pharmacare program. All still needs to be debated
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  between the provinces and the territories, and then once that happens, we can
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  see how this one and a half billion dollar program will be rolled out over
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  five years. Joining me to discuss is someone who's undoubtedly happy about this passage
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  moving into the Senate, maybe not about the Senate specifically himself. Winsor West
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  MP Brian Massey joins me, right now, how you doing good? Thanks
• 0:59
  thanks for having me much appreciate it, and yes it's going to the Senate.
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  I don't know about the sober part. But it is going to the
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  Senate. Had to get that in. I love the dig Thank you for
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  that. It keeps me laughing. This is a historical passage through the House
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  of Commons here with this bill. It is and it's the first step for
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  national Pharmacare. So there's kind of two components to keep in mind here,
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  is that Canada is the only basically G seven nation that has healthcare but doesn't
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  provide any of the pharmacare medications. That was the original plan but Tommy Douglas
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  put forth over fifty years ago, and so we're catching up to other industrialized
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  nations, and we're going to start with two sets of medications, one for
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  contraceptoms and one for diabetes. And then it also opens up the pathway for
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  future bulk purchasing and a series of other different things that can take place for
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  implementing more of a pharmacare model that's fulistic entirely. So it's just the first
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  step to getting there. And this has been important because even when we introduce
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  dental care, there's been some obviously when you're creating new programs and challenges,
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  and it's getting there. We have over one hundred thousand Canadians and an access
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  and dental care. But at the same time it still needs to be worked
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  on a little bit some more, but it's getting there, but it takes
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  time to get it going. So that's why there was a focus on contraceptives
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  and for diabetes because those are serious issues. There's other ones out there,
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  but those will also put money back into people's pockets. The sad thing that
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  we're faced with an Ontario is that Doug Ford has refused to say he will
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  participate, and so we are offside right now. So the provinces that have
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  said yes, I know that Manitoba and British Columbia to NDP provincial governments there
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  have said yes, they will be receiving money and negotiating over the summer on
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  how to actually roll out these actual medical supports and supplies which will take money
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  away from basically, you know, having to go to other things and put
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  it back in the pearson's pocket. And persons with diavites, for example,
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  one in four don't always even get the full medication they necessarily they get.
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  And it's also going on the other side, it's going to help with reducing
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  hospital awareness our usage because will be less in the hospitals for these types of
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  things that sometimes they have to go to because there's no other alternatives. Yeah,
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  I mean, so what happens if Premier four does say no, Like,
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  how what does that actually look like in actuality? In terms of all
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  of the you know, fifteen million ontarians there are, it means we're denied.
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  And for persons with diabetes, they pay anywhere between nine hundred to two
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  thousand dollars per year in medication for type one and type two diabetes, and
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  then they're also with a fund to help them with the physical requirements that they
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  have for the mechanics like in terms of having devices and then contraceptives, which
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  is obviously really important for women and their rights. It's going to mean that
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  they're denied and that's hundreds of dollars as well too, So it really is
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  going to leave us outside. And when you look at Windsor and SS County,
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  we have so many different healthcare needs as it is, and because of
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  our industrialization, we have higher rates often of number of different things. We're
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  looking at the research to see how much you know, say for example,
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  diabetes as reflected, we think that numbers are higher, but we're looking to
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  find that out, but it will mean that people will continue to pay where
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  other Canadians will actually get that benefit. And so the way our healthcare model
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  works is that we actually just basically write a check to the province with terms
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  and conditions so assigned to it that they're supposed to follow, but sometimes they
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  don't follow it. We even, you know, during the pandemic, we
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  saw Ontario keep some of the pandemic money that was supposed to go to consumers
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  and to residents and not pass that on. So I'm worried about this and
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  we're going to have to mobilize the public. If the Ford government refuses to
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  participate, it means less money in people's pockets, and it also means increased
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  health care strains, because again, if people are taking their medication, they're
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  going to be healthier. Yeah, that's a simple fact. I remember a
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  number of well not even that many years ago, twenty nineteen, although pre
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  pandemic, before times, let's be honest, we saw Bernie Sanders make us
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  trip here to Windsor where he was touting the cost of insulin as being,
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  you know, much cheaper than it is in the United States, and the
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  difference there being thirty six dollars Canadian to three hundred and fifty dollars to four
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  hundred dollars US for a vial. But of course that still is that that
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  expense still represents on the Canadian side, that people are still reaching into their
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  own pocket. You're looking to go even further than what Bernie was talking about
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  at that day. Absolutely, and we have to remember that, you know,
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  insulin is a Canadian invention. Patent holders actually sold it for one dollar
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  with the intent to helping other people. And then now the pharmaceutical industry has
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  got its hands on it is making you know, record amounts of money on
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  insulin and this has to stop this type of behavior. So we need to
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  have a balance in all things. And so you know, when we're looking
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  at the further consequences of this, there's going to be a committee set up
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  that will also start to review other medications and both buying reducing costs, a
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  system in place that doesn't infringe on provincial jurisdiction but provides incentives for them if
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  they want to cooperate work towards it. And you know, I know that
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  the Alberta government has already said that they're not going to do it under Daniel
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  Smith. The Conservatives are their party there and so it's it's very difficult to
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  accept because you know, I see someone I canvas in my community is people
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  choosing between medication and food or rent and other things, or you know,
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  cutting your medication in half because they can't afford it. And yes, there
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  is only these two components to start with it, but it creates the structure
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  for the future, which is key and important. And of course the diabetes
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  is something that I know affects us quite a bit because we've actually had juvenile
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  Diabetes Champions come from Windsor and Xi's County that have led the national campaign for
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  this, so we know it's really important for us. So I want to
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  see this, you know, get through the Senate and this summer we could
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  actually have results if other probits cooperates, and some provinces are already building their
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  capacity to actually access us right away. And so having an indifferent premiere on
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  this is not very helpful because not only is the lineup getting longer for us
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  to get in in the lineup for dealing with it, it's also taking away
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  money that actually could go to people that are in need of this and it
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  doesn't matter about your income, it's just whether or not you have diabetes.
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  Is what's going to be the test of metal in terms of getting this benefit.
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  Well, and you know, rates of diabetes across the country roughly around
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  ten percent as of twenty twenty to twenty twenty one, aged one and older,
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  ten percent of people living with diagnosed diabetes. That's three point seven million
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  people. It's a large amount. But we still do get some texts here
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  from people saying I'm not a diabetic, I'm not in need of contraceptives.
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  This isn't benefiting me. I don't want to see this, or the flip
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  side, people saying when am I going to start seeing things covered that I
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  actually use. It must be tough Brian, having to have had to pick
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  and choose in a negotiated agreement at the outset. But the goal, of
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  course, as you were saying, is still to get towards full coverage.
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  Right. Yeah, absolutely, And those are legitimate concerns. But I would
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  argue that you are affected by this because if you have a neighbor or a
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  family members diabetes, and I would suggest that it's about everybody does have that
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  if you look around your family, your friends and people at school and at
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  work. You're going to run into people with diabetes that are now going to
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  benefit from getting the medication that they need and also taking that stress and strain
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  off their life, which is going to help you as well too. And
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  then we won't have more cases of people that are struggling with diabetes doing things
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  that maybe not they shouldn't in sense of not taking their medication, or cutting
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  their medication, or needing hospitalization because they can't keep up with the payments of
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  not even having any coverage. So there's all those things. So I would
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  argue you are going to do that. And then contraceptives is very important for
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  women, and important for public safety and a well series of different things.
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  And so these are the basic elements to start with. And it also creates
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  the framework for other things to build upon. Yes, So I mean we
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  take that to note, we wanted to have more covered, we couldn't get
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  that, But there's only twenty two of us that are doing this. In
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  terms of you know, really, you know, we had to deal with
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  the conservatives and liberals historically voting against this in the conservative blockingness and how to
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  comments for months now, we could have actually had this rolled out quicker,
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  and so the quicker we can get to this, the quicker we can get,
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  the better results in terms of it. And it also again leaves that
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  framework that's so important. And I would argue as well that once we do
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  this, it's going to also help attract investment because more and more employers that
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  are looking to Ontario into Canada are going to have workforces that are going to
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  be healthier, stronger, more productive, and also will have less cost associated
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  to board investment that comes in or current Canadian investment that wants to stay here.
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  So this is a value added control. Instead of doing large corporate tax
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  cuts to the oil and gas industries and others that don't put that money back
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  into Canada, this is a type of a subsidy in a sense that goes
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  directly to the worker, not the employer or not to the CEOs, that
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  actually gets into their pockets, into their family income. And that's a key
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  thing too, because we want to continue to increase productivity in Canada. Yeah,
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  I suppose employee health plans once this is fully rolled out, won't have
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  to cover these items, and that would be something that would be appealing to
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  employers. A healthy workforce is a happy employer typically, Brian, thank you
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  so much for your time for breaking it down for us. Really appreciated.
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  Thank you you have a wonderful day you as well. Brian Massey is our
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  Member of Parliament for Windsor West, talking here about how this historic pharmacare bill
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  is heading to the Senate after passing third reading in the House of Commons.