NDP Leader Andrea Horwath has unveiled her prescription for winning next year`s election – universal pharmacare.Horwath unveiled the ambitious $475-million-a-year program to about 1,000 New Democrats at the party’s annual convention on Saturday.“When we win in 2018, we are going to create Canada’s first universal pharmacare plan right here in Ontario,” she thundered to cheering delegates at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.“It will mean lower costs, less worry, and better health for everyone. It will mean fewer emergencies, fewer people in ERs. It will mean we can save lives.”Emphasizing that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, Horwath said her plan is both doable and affordable.“Starting with the most commonly prescribed essential medicines, we will provide universal drug coverage for all Ontarians,” she said, lamenting that one in four people in the province aren’t taking the medication they need “because they can`t afford it.”While Ontario Health Minister Eric Hoskins has been crusading for a national pharmacare program for years with his colleagues across the country, the federal and provincial Liberals have failed to deliver on it.The NDP will disclose the details of the program Monday at Queen`s Park, but, citing health-care experts, officials say the initial launch would cost $475 million a year.Even though voters are not heading to the polls until June 7, 2018, Horwath stepped up her attacks against both Liberal Premier Kathleen Wynne and Progressive Conservative Leader Patrick Brown.”This Liberal premier doesn’t get it,” she said.“And frankly, neither do the Conservatives. The Conservatives have no real solutions to offer for the problems that working people face.”Mindful that Brown leads in public opinion polls – and that Wynne is in a distant third place – Horwath t ...
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