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TORONTO – Ontario’s NDP is proposing a $475-million pharmacare plan covering 125 drugs, which they believe could be introduced without program cuts or new taxes, although they’re not ruling them out.
Party leader Andrea Horwath says if her party wins the 2018 election, it will bring in the plan to – at first – cover 125 medications, including ones for high blood pressure, asthma and diabetes.
The cost estimate is based on a paper by University of British Columbia professor Steve Morgan, who says the $475 million is actually at the high end of his projections.
The NDP also says the plan would see private payers such as employers save up to $1.9 billion as they would no longer have to cover those 125 medicines.
Horwath says Ontario will likely see enough economic growth in the coming years to fund the plan, but if not they would look to shifting money from non-health programs.
She says if neither of those two options come to pass, the NDP would introduce a new revenue source, but one that wouldn’t add a new burden to people or businesses.
