![\"Prescription](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/prescription-drugs-are-seen-on-shelves-at-a-pharmacy-in-montreal-on-march-11-2021.jpg\")
On July 24, the Canadian Press reported that federal Health Minister Marjorie Michel is not committing to sign pharmacare funding deals with all provinces and territories. (Ryan Remiorz\/The Canadian Press)<\/p>\nOn July 24, the Canadian Press reported that federal Health Minister Marjorie Michel is not committing to sign pharmacare funding deals with all provinces and territories. (Ryan Remiorz\/The Canadian Press)<\/p>\n
Newfoundland and Labrador has not joined a federal program that could provide the province millions of dollars to make diabetes medication and contraceptives free for all residents.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The universal Pharmacare Act was passed by the Trudeau Liberals last year<\/a>, and received royal assent on Oct.\u00a010, 2024.\u00a0<\/p>\n But only British Columbia, Manitoba, Prince Edward Island and the Yukon\u00a0have joined the program.\u00a0<\/p>\n Pharmacare advocate and member of the Avalon chapter of the Council of Canadians, Yvonne Earle, said joining the plan would mean every resident of the province\u00a0would just need their MCP to access diabetes medication and birth control.\u00a0<\/p>\n “If everybody can receive their medications and keep themselves healthy, we’ll be making a significant step forward for our health-care program,” said Earle.\u00a0<\/p>\n A recent report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives\u00a0estimated that the province would receive over $84 million in funding if it signed on.<\/p>\n Still no word<\/p>\n Last May<\/a>, Health Minister Krista Lynn Howell\u00a0said she looked\u00a0forward to conversations with Ottawa about pharmacare, adding that Newfoundland and Labrador won’t be left behind.\u00a0<\/p>\n And when St. John’s East MP Joanne Thompson joined cabinet<\/a> under Justin Trudeau, she said she wanted to protect pharmacare.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Council of Canadians\u00a0sent letters to the government this year lobbying for a pharmacare agreement to be signed in Newfoundland and Labrador, said\u00a0Earle. But they’ve only been told that discussions were on hold until after the federal election,\u00a0she said.<\/p>\n “Well, it’s now been four months since the federal election and we’re still not hearing anything,” said Earle.\u00a0<\/p>\n Just last week, Earle said\u00a0they sent a letter asking the\u00a0provincial opposition to raise the question to the Liberal government\u00a0as the provincial election nears.\u00a0<\/p>\n In an emailed statement,\u00a0Department of Health media relations manager Jennifer Konieczny said they have engaged with the federal government regarding pharmacare coverage, and said\u00a0that discussions were on hold due to the federal election.\u00a0<\/p>\n “We look forward to once again working with our Health Canada counterparts to improve access for Newfoundlanders and Labradorians when they are ready to resume discussion,” wrote Konieczny.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Canadian Press reported on July 24\u00a0that Federal Health Minister Marjorie Michel\u00a0is not committing to sign pharmacare funding deals with all the provinces and territories.<\/p>\n Earle said\u00a0the government is procrastinating.\u00a0<\/p>\n “If we want it for Newfoundlanders, then our government has to go after it proactively,” she said.<\/p>\n She said she is very concerned about the federal government’s non-commitment,\u00a0adding that Prime Minister Mark Carney had previously committed to protect pharmacare during his election campaign.\u00a0<\/p>\n “One of the things that Canadians pride themselves on is their health-care system \u2026 [and] our health-care system now is under considerable strain,” said Earle. “And one of the ways we can improve it is getting pharmacare for all Canadians.”<\/p>\n Diabetes Canada has been advocating for a pharmacare plan that involves the provinces and territories working together, said\u00a0Laura O’Driscoll, the organization’s\u00a0senior manager of policy.\u00a0<\/p>\n That would mean improving support for the 93,000 Newfoundlanders and Labradorians who have Type 1, Type 2 diagnosed and\u00a0Type 2 undiagnosed diabetes \u2014 or 18 per cent of the population, O’Driscoll said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Many different types of medications and devices are used to treat and monitor diabetes, but O’Driscoll said\u00a0access in the province is varied.\u00a0<\/p>\n It depends on access to private insurance or if you’re covered under the province’s prescription drug program for low income individuals, she said. And people with diabetes can pay anywhere from $400 to $10,000 a year on medications.\u00a0<\/p>\n O’Driscoll said they have heard from patients who have not been able to afford their prescriptions.<\/p>\n For now, she said,\u00a0they’re continuing talks with the government.\u00a0<\/p>\n “We urge \u2026 the federal government and provincial and territorial partners to continue to have conversations about reducing the out of pocket costs for people living with diabetes,” said O’Driscoll.\u00a0<\/p>\n Download our\u00a0free CBC News app<\/a>\u00a0to sign up for push alerts for CBC Newfoundland and Labrador. Sign up for our\u00a0daily headlines newsletter here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On July 24, the Canadian Press reported that federal Health Minister Marjorie Michel is not committing to sign…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":29634,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[49,48,84,392],"class_list":["post-29633","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-health","tag-healthcare"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29633","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29633"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29633\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29634"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29633"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29633"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29633"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Woman](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/laura-o-driscoll.jpg\")
Laura O’Driscoll, senior manager of policy with Diabetes Canada, says she is urging the provincial government to continue conversations about pharmacare. (Taylor O’Brien\/CBC)Diabetes medication access varied in N.L.\u00a0<\/p>\n