The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

w at er lo oc hr on ic le .c a W at er lo o C hr on ic le | T hu rs da y, Ju ly 4, 20 19 | 14 Prescription drug cov- erage is a major concern for Canadian business, and the issue will again be prominent during the fall election campaign. The upcoming cam- paign debates will primari- ly focus on the recommen- dations of the Advisory Council on the Implemen- tation of National Pharma- care, which was chaired by former Ontario health minister Eric Hoskins. Specifically, there is uncer- tainty regarding the coun- cil's proposal that the fed- eral government establish a single-payer system. Canadians want govern- ments to provide coverage to those who need it - the uninsured and the under- insured - not those who al- ready have it. Canadian employers are urging the federal government to con- sider the impact of any changes on the millions of people who would lose ac- cess to medications they have under their current plans and examine the cost of a single-payer system on federal finances. With the Advisory Council's report issued ear- lier this month, they have essentially sidestepped their responsibility to find an affordable approach for governments to raise the revenue needed to fund the $15-billion annual cost of the proposed approach. The final report notes, "we consulted widely and can report with certainty there is no easy answer to how to pay for national pharma- care." Businesses and govern- ment cannot operate in a fiscally responsible man- ner by ignoring fundamen- tal costs. Proceeding fur- ther on the recommenda- tions of this report places the national economy and the federal government in a highly vulnerable posi- tion. The council mistakenly believes that the average business will save $750 per employee per year under their proposed system. The idea that a single-payer system will relieve employ- ers of an important cost pressure is simply not true. A single-payer plan will likely result in increased deficits and taxes, both of which are not in the inter- est of employers or taxpay- ers. While ensuring all Ca- nadians have pharmacare access is reasonable public policy and a desirable goal, any national program must be designed in a way that is fiscally sustainable and does not crowd out the comprehensive coverage options offered by private and group plans. Employ- ers support an approach to national pharmacare that fills in the gaps in the exist- ing system to ensure that no Canadian lacks access to the medicines they need. Waterloo Region has three major employers - Manulife, Sun Life and Eq- uitable Life - that provide excellent group plans that could be negatively im- pacted by any changes. I would ask all voters to seri- ously examine this issue and consider the fiscal im- pacts of the relative party positions. We cannot run programs that are not fis- cally sustainable. Ian McLean is president and CEO of the Greater Kitchener-Waterloo Cham- ber of Commerce. OPINION BUSINESS CONCERN ESCALATING OVER NATIONAL PHARMACARE PROPOSALS SPECIFICALLY, THERE IS UNCERTAINTY REGARDING A SINGLE-PAYER SYSTEM, WRITES IAN MCLEAN IAN MCLEAN Column FIND MORE LOCAL EVENTS AT WATERLOOCHRONICLE.CA