OTTAWA - Following the recent announcement of the government's so-called pharmacare plan, the Green Party of Canada reaffirms its commitment to a real universal, single-payer pharmacare system and calls for further measures to ensure its effectiveness and ethical implementation.
The Green Party applauds the steps taken to provide coverage for diabetes and reproductive health care but insists that the current plan falls far short. We will continue to push for genuine pharmacare that delivers substantial savings and ensures an ethical, fair healthcare system for all Canadians.
We need a single-buyer system at the federal level. This would not only provide significant cost savings and negotiating leverage for bulk purchases but also elevate the ethical standards within the pharmaceutical industry.
The Greens highlighted the benefits of a single-buyer system, noting that it would allow the federal government to negotiate better prices with Big Pharma, leveraging the buying power of a 40-million-customer market. This approach would reduce drug costs for all Canadians and ensure that the pharmaceutical industry operates with higher ethical standards, free from undue influence and corruption.
Big Pharma's profiteering and corruption have had devastating consequences, such as the opioid crisis in Canada. A single-buyer system would help mitigate these issues by maintaining strict ethical standards and preventing pharmaceutical companies from exploiting the system for excessive profits.
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