Pharmacare would cost governments billions more per year but save economy money: PBO | CBC News

The parliamentary budget officer says a single-payer universal drug plan would cost federal and provincial governments $11.2 billion in the first year, and $13.4 billion in five years.

The PBO’s report, released on Thursday, provides an estimate for the cost of a pharmacare program between 2024-25 and 2027-28.

It calculates the incremental cost of the program, taking into account current spending by governments on public drug plans as well as revenue that would be generated from co-pays under a pharmacare plan.

The Liberals have promised to table pharmacare legislation this fall as part of the supply-and-confidence deal the government struck with the NDP.

The report finds that a single-payer universal drug plan would lead to economy-wide savings, despite its prediction that the use of prescription drugs would rise by 13.5 per cent.

That’s because the report assumes that the implementation of a single-payer universal plan would allow for better price negotiations and lower drug prices.

The PBO estimates cost savings on drug expenditures of $1.4 billion in 2024-25 and says that figure would increase to $2.2 billion by 2027-28.

The report also looks at alternative coverage plans.

A plan that covers only catastrophic medicines — a term used to describe expensive drugs that could cause financial hardship — would cost governments an additional $400 million in the first year and $2 billion in five years.

A plan that covers only essential medicines — ones that address the priority health-care needs of a population — would cost an additional $2.4 billion in the first year and $12.1 billion in five years.