Canadians Lobby for Universal Pharmacare on Parliament Hill

The Alberta Pharmacare Working Group supports the hundreds of Canadians from all across the country who are descending on the Parliament Hill today to fight for universal Pharmacare. Albertans will be joining Canadian Labour Congress representatives to speak with MPs and Senators about a Pharmacare program that won't leave anyone behind.

MEDIA RELEASE
SEPTEMBER 24, 2018

“PHARMACARE CONSENSUS PRINCIPLES” CLEARLY OUTLINES THE PRINCIPLES BY WHICH A NATIONAL PHARMACARE PROGRAM SHOULD BE GOVERNED

Pro-pharmacare advocates across the country have achieved consensus about the principles which must underpin a national pharmacare program in Canada. More than 70 national, provincial and territorial organizations agree that Canadian pharmacare must be a single-payer system that is universal, public, accessible, comprehensive, and provides portable coverage. Friends of Medicare is proud to be one of the many signatories to this national consensus.

Friends of Medicare Commends HESA Report on Pharmacare

Friends of Medicare joins our partners from the Canadian Health Coalition in applauding the the Parliamentary Committee on Health (HESA) on its report on a national public drug plan, "Pharmacare Now: Prescription Medicine Coverage for all Canadians."

MEDIA RELEASE
FEB 28, 2018
OTTAWA

Friends of Medicare and the Canadian Health Coalition Oppose Morneau's Plan to Limit Access to Drugs

The Canadian Health Coalition (CHC), representing health care advocates across Canada, and Friends of Medicare (FOM), its Alberta affiliate, have called the finance minister's backing away from a universal public drug plan a betrayal of the expressed desire of Canadians for what has been called the "unfinished business" of Medicare.

New National Report Outlines the Huge Cost of the Failed Health Accord

As Health Ministers from across Canada meet in Edmonton this week, Canada's Health Coalitions released a report showing the recent bilateral health schemes pushed through by the Trudeau government have come at a huge cost.  The report "Health Accord Breakdown: Costs and Consequences of the Failed 2016/17 Negotiations" calculates that the failure of the Health Accord will mean a health care funding shortfall of $31 billion for the provinces with no concrete targets to improve public health care for Canadians and no plan to bridge the fiscal gap. Calling the rhetoric around health transformation and target funds for home and mental health care "more PR than substance", the coalitions also tallied the non-monetary costs of the lost Health Accord: the grave problems of under capacity in public hospitals, long-term and community care; long-waits; growing inequities and problems with access to care that will continue without any national plan to address them.

Prescription Drug Coverage Needed to Fight Poverty for Alberta’s Working Class

At today’s annual Labour Day barbecue for the unemployed and underemployed organized by the Edmonton & District Labour Council, the EDLC, End Poverty Edmonton & Friends of Medicare are calling for action on universal prescription drug coverage to help fight poverty in Alberta.

Canadian Health Advocates to Premiers: Stand up for Public Health Care

Health care advocates from across the country gathered in Edmonton today at a rally outside the Hotel Macdonald to call on Canada’s Premiers to fight for patients and call for fair federal funding for health care.

TPP the Wrong Prescription for a Healthy Democracy

Friends of Medicare are speaking out on the potential harm the Trans Pacific Partnership trade agreement will cause to Canada’s health system.

At House of Commons consultations in Calgary, Executive Director Sandra Azocar made the case that the TPP “limits Canadians ability to find democratic and public solutions to ongoing healthcare issues, most notably on pharmaceutical costs.”

Today March 31^st, marks 12 years since the last negotiation of a Canadian Health Accord. That accord had expired in 2014. We continue to see aggressive and increased privatization, from pay-for-plasma to private MRIs and much more. We have stalled on progress towards a national seniors strategy and still do not have a commitment to a national public drug plan. The need for a new accord is clear.