Without a universal prescription drug plan, coverage in Canada vastly differs depending on where you live. Ontario’s proposed partial pharmacare program is a step in the right direction but still leaves many without coverage. Ontario’s current publically-funded programs require deductibles or co-payments, which have proven to reduce access.

• 24 percent of respondents in Ontario said they or someone else in their household hadn’t taken medication as prescribed because they couldn’t afford to.

• Today, public spending in Ontario covers less than half the cost of prescription medicine.

• An estimated one in three of the province’s 6,923,200 workers – 2,307,733 – don’t have health benefits.

• In Canada, only about 27 percent of part-time workers have prescription drug coverage. That means that in 2015, about three-quarters of Ontario’s 1,305,000 part-time workers didn’t have prescription drug coverage.

• Ontario’s Drug Benefit covers seniors, but they still pay an annual deductible of $100, and co-payments of $6.11 on every prescription.

• The province’s Trillium Drug Program is available for those paying more than three percent of their net household income on prescriptions, but they still pay a deductible, and co-payments of $2 per prescription.

• Even charges as low as $2 have been found to be a barrier to taking medication as prescribed.

• In 2017, the Ontario government announced a partial Pharmacare program that will cover full prescription drug costs for anyone under the age of 25. If approved, the program will start January 1, 2018, and will cover 4,400 drugs for the province’s children and young adults.

This patchwork coverage leaves many Ontarians without access to the medication they need, either because they don’t have a prescription drug plan or have plans that don’t cover the cost.

Everyone should have equal access to the prescription drugs they need regardless of where they live. It’s time for a universal prescription drug plan.

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Sign the Petition Here

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Canada’s unions are proud that we’ve won health insurance coverage for many of our members. But we believe anyone with a health card should have coverage for the medicines they need. That’s why we’re working to win a universal prescription drug plan that covers everyone in Canada, regardless of their income, age or where they work or live.

We’ve got big plans for this campaign: We’re ramping up the pressure on Members of Parliament from coast to coast and asking them to take action for a national pharmacare program.

Whether we’re heard depends on people like you speaking up. One or two messages to an MP might not get much traction, but if hundreds of us are doing it at the same time, just imagine the impact we can have. You can send your MP a quick email using our super-simple tool, and ask them to take action for pharmacare?

We know from speaking to MP’s staff on Parliament Hill that letters and phone calls matter. It only takes a few messages from constituents to get an MP to act.

That’s why this sort of pressure – and the size of our movement – matter. The more messages we send our elected representatives, the more attention our cause will get.

So we’re asking pharmacare supporters like you to send your MP a quick email. This tool makes it super simple – it takes less than thirty seconds to send a message.

Send your Member of Parliament a message right now:

3.5 million Canadians can’t afford the medication they need. This video tells the true story of what this meant for one Cambridge, Ontario family. Because of the cost of a pill, Judy and Gary Pope faced an impossible choice: keep their family home, or pay for medication that would prolong Judy’s life. Watch their story, and then add your voice to our call for a universal prescription drug plan for all Canadians.