Nova Scotia's decision to omit pharmacare from its list of priorities has sparked criticism from the province's NDP Leader, Claudia Chender. The federal government has federal pharmacare agreements in place with other provinces. This policy decision dramatically undermines equity by framing healthcare access as a privilege. As Chender explained, pharmacare is a bread and butter equity issue that Nova Scotia can be a leader on.
For too long, the federal government has focused attention on the exorbitant prices of breakthrough therapies for these rare diseases. These costs can quickly escalate from $100,000 to more than $4 million annually. Yet even with these costs covered, Manitoba, British Columbia, Prince Edward Island, and the Yukon have all signed pharmacare deals with Ottawa. Nova Scotia’s been able to cut a $39-million per-year deal with the feds. This settlement will improve access to six targeted drugs for orphan diseases.
The drugs covered by this agreement are Poteligeo, Oxlumo, Epkinly, Welireg, Yescarta, and Koselugo. Health care providers prescribe Poteligeo for use in adults with mycosis fungoides and Sézary syndrome. They administer Oxlumo for hyperoxaluria type 1, Epkinly to patients with relapsed or refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. Welireg for treatment of von Hippel-Lindau disease, Yescarta for large B-cell lymphoma, primary mediastinal B-cell lymphoma, and follicular lymphoma, and Koselugo for neurofibromatosis type 1.
Nova Scotia's Health Minister Michelle Thompson emphasized the government's commitment to expanding drug coverage.
“We do cover a number (of diseases) already, but this will help us expand to other drugs,” Thompson stated.
Additionally, Thompson promised that the government would not stand in the way of increasing access to contraceptives.
Nova Scotia supports home care with a unique, income-linked scheme. This program is assisting diabetes patients by only paying for devices that facilitate inexpensive blood glucose monitoring方式. As proud as she is of this progress, Chender insists that the momentous newness of federal money should make making better decisions with it relatively simple.
“This province has partially funded diabetes care, so this is a choice that should be made so much easier by the fact there is federal funding on the table,” Chender remarked.
She called the patchwork era of pharmacare in Nova Scotia unequal and unfair.
“It is an equity issue and it is a very problematic place for them to be,” Chender commented.
