Opinion Published in The Hill Times June 5, 2024

Patients welcomed this as a step in the right direction, but it doesn’t solve the chronic shortage of physicians, nurses, and personal support workers, and will only potentially make a difference over years. [...] But for those managing a chronic or complex disease, what does a better framework look like? Will meeting the medication needs of the wider population lead to more basic coverage of fewer drugs? What about difficult-to-treat diseases? Anything that has the potential to change how medications are covered will be met with keen scrutiny by the patients who need them most. [...] It aims to ensure all patients have access to the medication they need and that patients are meaningful participants in the development and oversight of pharmacare policy. [...] John Adams is board chair of the Best Medicines Coalition, and CEO and co-founder of Canadian PKU & Allied Dis-orders, with lived experience as an anemia, cancer, and cardiac patient and as a care-giver. [...] Linda Wilhelm lives with rheumatoid arthritis and is a past board chair of the Best Medicines Coalition, and co-founder and president of the Canadian Arthritis Patient Alliance.