QUALICUM BEACH — The NDP wants the federal government to lower healthcare costs by implementing a unviersal pharmacare program, a message they’re bringing to Qualicum Beach.
Courtenay-Alberni MP Gord Johns, along with the NDP’s health critic Don Davies, will host a town hall meeting about universal pharmacare on Saturday, May 12 at the Royal Canadian Legion Qualicum Beach Branch #76.
Johns said it’s “outrageous that Canadians are having to choose between purchasing food and paying for their prescription drugs.”
A study from the Canadian Medical Association Journal in 2017 showed Canada had the second highest per-person cost of prescription medication of high income countries with universal healthcare.
The NDP claimed the Parliamentary Budget Officer’s pharmacare report showed the federal government can extend prescription drug coverage for every Canadian and a universal pharmacare program would save the country between $4 and $11 billion.
The town hall takes place at 1 p.m. and audience members will be able to ask questions.