OTTAWA – Following the recommendation of an expert panel that Canada switch to a universal pharmacare plan, the insurance industry is cautioning such a move would create a drastic reduction in their ability to take our money.
“Canada is the only country with universal healthcare that doesn’t cover prescription drugs,” said Gene Miller, a spokesman for the Canadian health insurance industry trade association. “That’s why we like it here. The existence of the private market for drug coverage is critical to ensure that we, the private market for drug coverage, continue to receive vast sums of money that otherwise would be recklessly spent on drug coverage.”
Canadians currently pay the third highest drug costs per capita among developed countries, a number which is estimated to go down with a national plan that reduces or eliminates the need for private insurance, and the insurance industry wants Canadians to know just how bad that would be. For them.
“Millions of Canadians risk losing access to a bureaucratic layer that stands between them and the medication they need to live,” Miller said. “And that layer of well-paid intermediaries risk losing all the money to be made by standing between Canadians and the medication they need to live. Clearly, these are risks that none of us should be willing to take.”
The insurance industry is also warning that single-payer dental and eye-care could lead to an unprecedented amount of insurance executives losing their luxury cars and possibly, in a worst case scenario, their vacation homes.
