For people living with diabetes, the push for medical coverage isn’t political, it’s personal

Katharine Mackett recalls how, as a young person, her mother had to come to her elementary school daily to administer insulin and to check her blood sugars.

She said it now costs more than $4,000 every year for medical interventions to manage her Type 1 diabetes. It is a heavy weight to carry along with a chronic disease that has demanded constant attention since her diagnosis in the late 1990s, at age 3.

“There’s a lot of things we need to stay alive,” said Ms. Mackett, a PhD candidate at McMaster University in Hamilton who is researching access to evidence-based diabetes care for patients.

“It’s a different situation for everyone, depending on where they live, what kind of coverage they have, or if they’re lucky enough to afford it, which shouldn’t be the case.”

She relies on a continuous glucose monitoring device, which helps her determine if her level is too high, which means she needs insulin. If it is too low, she takes sugar. She said the cost of the device isn’t covered in her case, meaning she turns to family for help.

For individuals living with serious, chronic medical conditions, the idea of pharmacare coverage isn’t an abstract political idea that politicians have discussed on occasion during the current federal election campaign. Rather, it is personal.

Advocates for publicly funded coverage say there are detrimental and even deadly health consequences for some patients who cannot afford their prescribed medications. Ms. Mackett wants politicians to know that helping individuals manage their diabetes will reduce costs to the health care system because they are more likely to be able to manage the illness at home, rather than end up in hospital.

Last fall, a federal pharmacare bill passed as a result of a working agreement between the NDP and the governing Liberals, which had a minority government. Ottawa began negotiating the bilateral deals with provinces and territories after it received royal assent.

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Before the election campaign began, Manitoba, B.C., Prince Edward Island and Yukon all signed agreements that will provide publicly funded coverage for diabetes medications, supplies and contraceptives, though the rollout timelines vary.

Ontario, Ms. Mackett’s home province, is among the jurisdictions that have yet to sign a deal. The federal government said it plans to fund diabetes devices and supplies, and that details will be discussed with provincial and territorial partners.

Diabetes Canada says more than four million Canadians live with the disease. Glenn Thibeault, executive director of government affairs, advocacy and policy, said the organization hears regularly from individuals who ration their medication or don’t have access at all. He said pharmacare coverage would amount to an “absolute game changer” for them.

Mr. Thibeault, a former politician who served both federally for the NDP and provincially for the Ontario Liberals, lives with Type 2 diabetes.

Pharmacare proponents are watching to see what will unfold after the April 28 election, and if other provinces and territories will reach agreements. Newly-minted Health Minister Kamal Khera said before the election campaign that she planned to work toward signing additional deals.

Liberal Leader Mark Carney was asked about the issue last week and he said he was committed to what was in place. He said any expansion would take place in the context of a “range of priorities.”

His comments generated reaction from the Canadian Health Coalition, which requested in a letter that he clarify if he would commit to seeing agreements negotiated with willing provinces and territories if the Liberals form government again. The Liberal Party has yet to release its platform that could shed more light on its policy plans.

The NDP fears Mr. Carney’s comments mean future deals could be at risk. NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said at an event in Vancouver on Wednesday that Canadians should send more New Democrats to Ottawa to see universal pharmacare realized, adding his party wants about 100 of the most prescribed medications covered within four years, carrying a price tag of $3.5-billion annually.

In the last Parliament, 25 NDP MPs forced the Liberal government to act on the first step toward pharmacare, Mr. Singh said.

The Conservatives voted against the federal pharmacare bill last fall. But, earlier in the campaign, when Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre was asked if he would keep federal dental care and pharmacare in place, he replied that “no one who has them will lose them.”

Patients such as Ms. Mackett hope that whichever party forms the next federal government will prioritize flowing financial coverage for drugs they rely on.

“I’m hopeful that they do take the sort of patient perspective into account when making these decisions that truly impact our lives,” she said.