The PBO's report released today 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 PBO's report finds that while the public sector would spend more on drugs, the implementation of a pharmacare plan would lead to economy-wide savings. The PBO estimates cost savings on drug expenditures of $1.4 billion in 2024-25, with that figure increasing to $2.2 billion by 2027-28.