Manitoba first province to sign Ottawa’s pharmacare deal

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This article was published 27/02/2025 (267 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba has become the first province to sign on to Ottawa’s pharmacare program, which will pay for birth control, diabetes medication and hormone replacement therapy.

The province, which already covers the cost of birth control, will receive $219 million over four years to deliver the program.

“What does today mean? In a very practical sense, there will be a day — and make no question about — when every Canadian in every part of our country has access to the medication they need,” federal Health Minister Mark Holland said at an announcement Thursday.

In October, legislation for universal pharmacare was passed by the House of Commons, setting the stage for provinces and territories to begin negotiations.

Coverage is set to begin in June, after a possible federal election, which means the funding could be cut if there is a change in government.

Holland said the program should not be subject to politics.

“What we can’t afford, as a country, is to make policy decisions and decisions on the efficacy of something that are driven by a political narrative,” he said, adding the extended timeline was so the government could “get things right” and work out logistics of the funding.

Universal access to birth control will still only be available to Manitoba health card carriers, leaving out groups such as international students.

Provincial Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara said the government continues to work with affected groups to address the issue.

The federal government estimates the program will give access to reproductive health care to 350,000 Manitobans and medication to 149,000 diabetes patients.

Lea Takacs, whose seven-year-old daughter Ataleigh has Type 1 diabetes, says the deal will cover a sliver of what the family forks out each year.

“We own a small business and we’re the only employees of it, so we don’t have any health coverage or benefits,” Takacs said.

Because they don’t reach their deductible under Manitoba’s pharmacare program, they end up spending about $15,000 out of pocket annually.

While the federal deal with the province will help cover the $1,200 the family spends each year on insulin, it doesn’t pay for pump supplies or a continuous glucose monitor, among other things.

“We’re hopeful it will cover all the things that we need,” Takacs said.

Celeste Theriault, executive director of the National Indigenous Diabetes Association, said access to diabetes medication only marginally moves the needle for Indigenous people, who are disproportionately affected by the disease.

“Access to medications is one but we need access to being able to get to a health-care provider in a culturally safe environment. We’re still (seeing) a lot of racism in our health-care system that isn’t built for Indigenous people,” Theriault said Thursday.

Indigenous Services Canada reports First Nations people on reserve have a rate of diabetes three to five times higher than that of other Canadians.

The homeless population, which includes a disproportionate number of Indigenous people, often eat highly processed food at shelters, which exacerbates diabetes and also needs to be addressed, Theriault said.

“(We) need capacity building… infrastructure… social determinants of health,” she said.

The province will also provide free coverage for hormone replacement therapy as part of the federal agreement.

“With everything going on in our world right now, it is so crucial that we make clear that we stand on the side of reproductive justice, freedoms and the rights of all people to have access to the care that they need,” Asagwara said.

Jason MacLean, chair of the Canadian Health Coalition, called the agreement “historic.”

“Manitoba is leading the way for other provinces and territories whose residents deserve the same benefits of free prescription medication,” MacLean said in a news release.

Ottawa will also shell out $48 million to Manitoba as part of its three-year drug strategy for rare diseases to support access to current medication, early diagnosis and screening.

In March 2023, the federal government announced up to $1.5 billion over three years to support the strategy nationwide.

– with files from The Canadian Press

nicole.buffie@freepress.mb.ca