“Universal” healthcare system needed 

Editor: 

We Canadians are often envied abroad for our “universal” healthcare system, yet our health may soon-enough come second to profit maximization, in particular those insatiably amassed by the pharmaceutical industry.

Resultantly, we continue to be the world’s sole nation that has universal healthcare but no similar coverage of prescribed medication, however necessary. Therefore, NDP leader Jagmeet Singh really needs to continue insisting the government keep its promise to implement a ‘pharmacare’ plan.

Not only is medication less affordable, but research has revealed that many low-income outpatients who cannot afford to fill their prescriptions end up back in the hospital system as a result, therefore costing far more for provincial and federal government health ministries than if the medication had been covered.

Ergo, in order for the industry to continue raking in huge profits, Canadians and their health, as both individual consumers and a taxpaying collective, must lose out big time. 

So, while we are often envied abroad for our supposedly universal health care, our health may soon-enough come second to profit maximization, in particular those insatiably amassed by the pharmaceutical industry.

Frank Sterle Jr.       

White Rock, B.C.