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Canada’s provincial and territorial health ministers announced Friday they have federal support to explore the feasibility of a national universal pharmacare program for prescription drugs.

The initiative commits the respective governments to jointly research how a pharmacare program might work, including potential costs, timelines to implement and how far the program should go to expand access to drugs.

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The announcement came on the final day of two days of meetings among provincial and territorial health ministers in Edmonton. Federal Health Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor joined her counterparts Friday.

“Are they agreeing to fund pharmacare? No,” Alberta Health Minister Sarah Hoffman said. “But we were talking about increasing access for all Canadians and they were willing to be partners in that conversation. So it’s a step in the right direction.”

The premiers called for a study

Last summer, premiers at the Council of the Federation called on their health ministers to study the pharmacare concept to eventually present some options to the federal government.