Key Issues — Healthcare and pharmacare / Principaux enjeux — Priorité aux soins de santé

Summary

Matthew Musgrave, a Government Relations Specialist with Heart and Stroke, argues that Canada’s post-pandemic recovery should focus on making the health care system more resilient—especially by improving access to affordable medications for people with chronic conditions such as heart disease and stroke.

He highlights that before the pandemic, about 7.5 million Canadians lacked adequate access to the medications they need. This gap forces families into harmful tradeoffs, such as choosing between essentials (rent and food) and necessary treatment.

Musgrave adds that the pandemic worsened the problem: roughly three million people lost their jobs, and many also lost private drug benefits tied to employment—not only workers, but also their families and children. This further reduced their ability to afford medications.

He calls for three main policy focuses, emphasizing that the first and most urgent is:

• Implementing a universal pharmacare program in Canada.

Musgrave argues that Canada’s current system—a fragmented mix of provincial public drug coverage and employer-based private coverage—does not adequately protect people, particularly during job loss. He notes that Canada is the only country with a public health care system that does not have a pharmacare program, and he suggests the government should take tangible steps beginning with the budget to make universal pharmacare a reality.

Presenters / Contributors

• Matthew Musgrave (Government Relations Specialist, Heart and Stroke)