THUNDER BAY – An inefficient and expensive prescription drug plan has left more than 3 million Canadians choosing between paying for groceries or their medication.
The Thunder Bay and District Labour Council and its affiliated unions marked this year’s Labour Day picnic with the launch of a new campaign, which is calling for prescription drug coverage for all Canadians.
Over the years, Canada’s unions have fought hard to win health insurance coverage, but with 3.5 million Canadians unable to afford to fill their prescriptions the fight doesn’t end there.
Ontario Federation of Labour’s secretary treasurer Patty Coates said Canada's unions are working towards a universal prescription drug plan that covers all Canadians.
“Right now, we have Canadians who don’t have access or can’t afford to fill their prescriptions,” Coates said.
“They are splitting their pills or they are skipping days of their pills and that’s not good. They are making the choice of their prescriptions and getting better versus buying groceries or paying hydro.”
Coates added a universal health care program would be more cost efficient because there would be fewer people admitted to hospital.
There are about 8.4 million working Canadians who don’t have prescription drug coverage.
The province will be bringing in Pharmacare, but it will only be available for people 24 and younger.
“What do people do with prescriptions again,” Coates said. “They are going to have to make the choice between groceries, hydro, even rent or their prescriptions.”
Coates said this has always been an issue.
“We are finding that more and more people are in precarious work and with precarious work they don’t have benefits,” she said.
“When you are a part-time contract worker you don’t have benefits, so more and more people are affected by not being able to afford prescriptions.”
Coates added hundreds of thousands of workers are being represented and pushing for Pharmacare.
“They know they need [Pharmacare] for their families, for their children’s families,” she said.
“There are a lot of young people who don’t have access to benefits. They are starting out in jobs where they don’t have access to a prescription program or a Pharmacare program and that are why we need this across Canada and we need it now.”
Labour Council president Carlos Santander-Maturana believes there are too many Canadians who are unable to afford prescription drugs.
“We represent organized worker and most organized workers do have some sort of a plan in the workplace in order to have these services paid for, but we are not talking about the common worker,” Santander-Maturana said.
“”We are talking about the ones who are making minimum wage and who can really not afford to have their medication filled in and as a labour organization it’s our duty and obligation to start talking for those who are destitute.”
About 1.7 million Ontarians earn at or near minimum wage, and many work more than one job in order to afford to live.
Santander-Maturana added they are asking for changes that would make it easier to join a union and they are demanding changes that would set a fair standard in the workplace for all workers, unionized or not.
