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March 19, 2018

Blog: Pharmacare Requires Boldness, Vision And, Yes, Rose-Coloured Glasses

By Linda Silas, President of the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions

Pharmacare Requires Boldness, Vision And, Yes, Rose-Coloured Glasses

It’s not only hard work that gets us to where we want to go, it’s also an optimistic vision of how we will improve our lives and communities once we get there.

Huffington Post Blog – March 15, 2018

For some health care pundits, the prospect of a national prescription drug plan may have long seemed like a pipe dream — too ambitious, complex and far-reaching to ever become a reality.

The federal government’s recent creation of what it called an “Advisory Council on the Implementation of National Pharmacare” has made this prospect more realistic than ever, despite Finance Minister Bill Morneau pouring cold water on the widespread enthusiasm that followed.

This seems to have evoked cynicism in some quarters about the possibility of implementing such a visionary program. Case in point: a recent opinion column by Globe and Mail health reporter André Picard depicts the path to national pharmacare in Canada as one littered with obstacles that cannot be overcome while wearing “rose-coloured glasses.”I beg to differ.

While it is undoubtedly true that national pharmacare won’t come easy, how can we ever expect to turn big ideas into reality without a healthy dose of boldness and, yes, a pair of those rose-coloured glasses?

 

Read the full blog on the Huffington Post website.