Written Submission for the Pre-Budget Consultations 2025 Federal Budget
By: Health Charities Coalition of Canada
Submitted: August 1, 2024
Recommendations:
Theme 1 – Accelerating access to medicines for Canadians
• That the Government of Canada remains committed to signing bilateral agreements with the provinces and territories with respect to accelerating access to medications and devices with the introduction of a national pharmacare program.
• That the Government of Canada remains committed to expanding access to drugs to treat rare diseases.
• That a robust and transparent consultation process on the next steps of a national pharmacare program engages all stakeholders; including people with lived or living experience and health charities.
• That every effort must be made to eliminate and/or reduce out-of-pocket drug expenses within a national pharmacare program.
• That the Government of Canada allocate sufficient and sustained funding to meet the stated and future objectives of a national pharmacare program that will improve access to medicines for all Canadians.
Theme 2 – Drive innovation through stability and predictability in research funding
• That existing and announced funding to the research granting councils be protected to advance discovery, support innovation, mobilize evidence and accelerate commercialization.
• That an immediate and sustained approach to health research data structure and surveillance be put in place that will inform policy and decision-making.
Theme 3 – Help us help you
• Enable a more sustainable funding environment for the nonprofit sector by:
o Expanding existing grants and contributions programs to include longer-term funding options and eliminating gaps between funding terms.
o Ensuring that project funding for nonprofits is inclusive of all costs associated with the delivery of a funded initiative. This should include operating costs, regionally defined fair wages for all project staff and costs associated with reporting, evaluation and monitoring of the project.
• Provide program and infrastructure support to facilitate the adoption of digital technologies in the nonprofit sector.
Introduction
The Health Charities Coalition of Canada (HCCC) is pleased to make a submission to the Standing Committee on Finance regarding Budget 2025. Representing Canadians with a wide range of health and medical conditions, health charities have a mission to improve the health of Canadians. Through our collective action, we strengthen the voices of Canadians, patients and caregivers by working with others to advance health policy and increase investment in health research. Our members provide evidence-based, disease specific information that helps to empower and educate Canadians. We are full partners in health research and invest in research and innovation that will improve health outcomes for Canadians.
Accelerating Access to Medicines for Canadians
Across the country, Canadians rely on medications to help improve their quality of life, maintain health and cure disease. Recent polls indicate that despite efforts to increase access to medicines for Canadians, one in five people in Canada do not have sufficient prescription drug coverage. One in four reported having to make difficult choices such as cutting back on groceries; delaying paying rent, mortgage or utility bills; and incurring debt in order to pay for their prescription medication. The poll also found that 1 in 10 Canadians with chronic conditions have ended up in the emergency room due to worsening health because they were unable to afford prescription medications.
The development and implementation of a national pharmacare program is an important step in taking action to improve the health outcomes of Canadians. To accelerate access for patients to the medicines that they need, we recommend the following:
• That the Government of Canada remains committed to signing bilateral agreements with the provinces and territories with respect to accessing medications with the introduction of a national pharmacare program.
• That the Government of Canada remains committed to expanding access to drugs to treat rare diseases.
• That every effort must be made to eliminate and/or reduce out-of-pocket drug expenses within a national pharmacare program. The high cost of inflation and the rising cost of living have created additional barriers for many people who are living with disease who are required to pay out of pocket for all/portions of their prescription medication .
• That a robust and transparent consultation process on the next steps of a national pharmacare program engages all stakeholders; including people with lived or living experience and health charities. The World Health Organization recently passed a resolution on social participation that recognizes the value and impact of “empowering people, communities, and civil society through inclusive participation in decision making processes that affect health across the policy cycle and at all levels of the system”. We encourage our Governments to take a strong leadership role in advancing social participation in Canada and making room for everyone in influencing health policies and system changes.
• That the Government of Canada allocate sufficient and sustained funding to meet the stated and future objectives of a national pharmacare program that will improve access to medicines for all Canadians.
Drive Innovation Through Stability and Predictability in Research Funding
Research fuels innovation, bolsters the economy and helps to improve the health of Canadians. Health charities acknowledge and thank the Government of Canada for the injection of funds that were committed towards research in Budget 2024, providing an important foundation to strengthen Canadian research and supporting the ultimate goal of creating a world-class research ecosystem.
In order to realize gains on these investments it is our recommendation that:
• Existing and announced funding to the research granting councils be protected to advance discovery, support innovation, mobilize evidence and accelerate commercialization, and
• A health research data strategy and sustainability plan be implemented. Canada needs an immediate and sustained approach to data structure and surveillance that will inform policy and decision-making.
Help Us Help You
Health charities are a valued partner in health and research, bringing expertise in patient engagement, advancing health promotion and disease prevention, closing gaps in care, accelerating research breakthroughs, knowledge translation and mobilization and advocating for health system and policy changes that will improve health outcomes for Canadians. A recent survey has revealed that overall demand for nonprofit organization services outpaces capacity at a time when for the 11th year in a row the number of Canadians making charitable donations has declined . A sustained and predictable funding base is needed to ensure that programs and services will keep pace with demand.
In order to best deliver on mission and continue to meet current and growing demand, we call on the government to support the nonprofit sector with the following recommendations:
• Enable a more sustainable funding environment for the nonprofit sector by:
o Expanding existing grants and contributions programs to include longer-term funding options and eliminating gaps between funding terms.
o Ensuring that project funding for nonprofits is inclusive of all costs associated with the delivery of a funded initiative. This should include operating costs, regionally defined fair wages for all project staff and costs associated with reporting, evaluation and monitoring of the project.
• Provide program and infrastructure support to facilitate the adoption of digital technologies in the nonprofit sector.
Conclusion
Canadians are looking to the Government of Canada to ensure that their health needs are being met, including being able to access medicines in a timely fashion. Budget 2025 presents an opportunity to sustain investments made towards research that will generate new knowledge and innovation in our country. Enabling a more sustainable funding environment for health charities and nonprofits will support improving health outcomes for Canadians.
About Us
Founded in 2000, the Health Charities Coalition of Canada (HCCC) is a member-based organization comprised of national health charities and patient groups who represent the voice of patients at all levels of the health care continuum. More information about our organization can be found at http://healthcharities.ca.
For more information on this submission please contact:
Connie Côté
Chief Executive Officer
Health Charities Coalition of Canada (HCCC)
ccote@healthcharities.ca
[1] Heart and Stroke and Canadian Cancer Society, Pharmacare Leger Poll, January 2024
[3] Social participation for universal health coverage: General Assembly Resolution. Geneva: World Health Organization: 2023 (https://apps.who.int/gb/ebwha/pdf_files/WHA77/A77_ACONF3-en.pdf), accessed 31 July 2024
[4] Statistics Canada. Canadian Survey on Business Conditions, survey 5318. 2024.
[5] CanadaHelps. The Giving Report 2023. https://www.canadahelps.org/media/The_Giving_Report_2023.pdf