“How do we all work together to make sure medication is affordable and people can access it?”
That’s the question North Island-Powell River MP Rachel Blaney is asking.
She says the main thing she’s been hearing from the riding is that not only does medication need to be affordable, but it has to include rare diseases too.
Blaney says a single-payer public model needs to come into play to alleviate some of the accessibility issues, which mainly involves cost.
“I’m hearing stories from seniors and families, even from doctors, talking about trying to prescribe medication and they’re either cutting it in half because they want to stretch it out because a little bit of medication is better than none because of costs.”
A single-payer model means working with businesses, and provincial and federal governments to figure out a way to pay into the system so people can get medication.
“What’s heartbreaking is when people can’t afford medication and they either get very sick or unfortunately die because they can’t access that medication.”
She says the point is to make sure this doesn’t happen in Canada as much as possible.
“That means, let’s make a process where it’s more affordable but also accessible for everyone.”
