Will Alberta sign on for federal pharmacare plan that just became law?

The federal government wants to quickly reach pharmacare deals with Canadian provinces now that legislation to enact the program has passed through the senate and become law — but Alberta doesn’t seem keen to sign on to the program.

The pharmacare bill passed the Senate without amendments Thursday, and received royal assent shortly after.

It will eventually inform the creation of any future universal pharmacare plan, but in the immediate term the bill paves the way for Ottawa to sign deals with provinces and territories to cover diabetes and birth-control medications. The deals are required for the medications to be covered in each jurisdiction.

on Friday, Alberta health minister Adriana LaGrange restated the United Conservative Party’s position that the province already has what she claims is a comprehensive program that covers over 5,000 drugs.

She says the province intends to maintain its current benefit offerings, but adds Ottawa can assist them in enhancing their current offerings by not adding duplicate programs.

“Unfortunately, the federal government has yet to share its vision for the future of national pharmacare, beyond coverage for contraceptives and diabetes medications, and how pharmacare will be financially supported in the long term while respecting Alberta’s current offerings,” reads the statement from LaGrange.

She says the province wants to work with the federal government to talk about how they can invest in the programs Alberta already has.

The Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions (CFNU) says it would benefit the provincial government and Albertans for the province to join the program.

CFNU President Linda Silas tells CityNews nurses witness tragedies every day due to millions of people not being able to afford the medications they need.

“We have to be thinking of patients who cannot afford their diabetic or contraceptive drugs,” she says. “We have to think of those families that do not have any kind of health insurance.”

She says reducing the number of people who need to be hospitalized will reduce the cost to the system.

Non-profit group Friends of Medicare is also expressing concern about the province’s reservations to sign up for the program.

The organization says studies have shown that moving to a public, universal, single-payer plan would save lives and save billions of dollars a year.

“We currently pay some of the highest drug costs in the world, and far too many people are struggling to afford the medications they need,” said Friends of Medicare executive director Chris Gallaway in a statement.

“Albertans have repeatedly made clear that this is a program they want to be a part of.”

Pharmacare has been a central part of NDP policy for years and party leader Jagmeet Singh made it a pivotal piece of the now-defunct supply and confidence deal he made with Trudeau two years ago.

Liberal Health Minister Mark Holland has said he hopes to have all provinces and territories on board by next spring. B.C. has already signed a memorandum of understanding to provide coverage. Manitoba, which began covering prescription birth control on Oct. 1 to fulfil an election promise made by the NDP government there, has indicated interest in making a deal with Ottawa.