Legislative, Regulatory & Legal

Federal Health Minister Mark Holland recently said he’s hearing concerns about readiness from provinces before the change takes effect in March.

A joint committee of parliamentarians has been studying whether the healthcare system is prepared for the change, and those findings are expected next week.

The lawsuit in Superior Court alleges that the province’s response to the first two waves of COVID-19 was improvised and that a pre-existing pandemic plan was ignored until it was too late.

Saskatchewan Health Minister Everett Hindley has said the average wait time for breast cancer tests should be three weeks, but patients are instead waiting about 10 weeks.

At the very least, provinces should remove the time limits on smoking cessation medications covered under drug benefit programs, the authors wrote.

Enrolment began last month for a new federal benefits program, which was developed as a condition of a political pact between the Liberal government and the NDP.

The ratification vote is set to close Feb. 02.

Health Minister Mark Holland says he’s received assurances that the U.S. government has no intention of triggering drug shortages in Canada.