I. TONNES fe Ps ‘a } 1 pharmacare™ > Medication shouldibefavailable for everyone Cazzy Lewchuk Contributor A anyone who has paid for a prescription knows, medication is not free in Canada. While it is already partially subsidized, medication can and is a significant cost for many Canadians. If someone has multiple or specialized prescriptions, the cost can be a significant burden without insurance. Some specialty medications can cost thousands of dollars a month. Without private insurance coverage (an additional expense), many people are simply unable to pay for their medication. Canada is the only country with universal healthcare that does not also have universal pharmacare. Our trips to the doctor and hospital stays are free, and our health care costs are covered by the government—except when it comes to medication. Spanking your kids 1s abuse No one should ever have to choose between buying food and medicine. Many Canadians can and do avoid buying prescriptions because of the costs. I myself have struggled to pay for some medications between paycheques. Even $20 antibiotics can be a lot of money to some people. As a 2015 Angus Reid poll showed, more than one in five Canadians have avoided buying or refilling their prescriptions or have skipped or split doses because they cost too much. We don’t charge people for the medication they consume while in the hospital, just as we don’t charge for other hospital costs. The idea of charging for such a thing would be opposed by most people under our universal healthcare, so why is it expected that we pay for medications outside of the hospital? Many Canadians already receive prescription drugs for free, such as people in the military, refugees, and Indigenous peoples. Many others are also Qa sary Spanking your kids is abuse Stop faking your orgasms Wrapping up my new clothes is unneces- And more! eligible under different provincial plans. No doubt many people feel resentful of those receiving extra benefits and feel it’s unfair. I don’t have a problem with certain groups getting extra help, but I do agree it’s unfair that many Canadians pay for prescriptions while others don’t, regardless of income. Poverty and medication costs affect people from any background, so these benefits should be extended to everyone. People function better in society when they aren't stressed about finances and their health, and are more productive when they're healthy. I believe that universal pharmacare could save insurance costs to employers. The current health system costs the provinces a lot, and many have been pushing Ottawa for universal pharmacare. The initial $19 billion plan saves $4.2 billion a year in Canada, and that’s not including long-term costs saved in benefits to Canadians. Long- term benefits also include set prices and > Studies find that physical discipline does a lot more harm than good Photo via nbcnews.com Photo by Analyn Cuarto direct negotiation with pharmaceutical companies from the government, ensuring cheaper costs long-term. However, it’s not all about cost- analysis and productivity. Whether it costs the government more shouldn't be the point, budgets grow and shrink based on many factors. Canadians, and everyone for that matter, deserve health care, and they deserve these things without a financial barrier. If we get free hospital visits and free medication in the hospital, there’s no reason for us to take the same thing at home and be forced to pay for it. This is not a radical concept. Universal pharmacare should be the norm. It works in every other country with free universal health care. Health care is a human right, and Canadians being unable to access their medication should be considered a human rights violation. C¢ [Spanking] hinders the child's development and learning...” Jessica Berget Opinions Editor here are a lot people that think there is a fundamental difference between abuse and discipline when it comes to children’s punishment. The way I see it, if you use physical force to teach your kid a lesson, it is abuse. End of story. With so much research and evidence out there about physical punishment and the harm it can do to children, it is astounding that parents still choose to use this form of discipline. Yet, unfortunately this kind of discipline is still practiced by many parents. According to a 50-year study done by the Journal of Family Psychology, spanking your child not only does not work as a form of punishment, it hinders the child’s development and learning, and can negatively affect their mental state. This includes increased mental health problems, cognitive difficulties, aggression, and anti-social behaviour. Why would someone choose to make this their form of discipline when it ultimately does a lot more harm than good? The researchers of this study also found that physically punishing your kids does very little in terms of their obedience. It does quite the opposite, actually; spanking children makes them more likely to defy their parents than to listen to or obey them, which defeats the purpose of punishing them in the first place. Dr. Shimi Kang, a Vancouver- based psychiatrist and parenting author attests to this fact. “Often, we see kids get worse after spanking. They're emotionally upset and because they're young, they don’t know how to deal with the feelings of being unhappy or stressed so they'll act out more. It’s not to aggravate parents,” he explained in an article on today.com. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Quite often, parents who advocate for physical punishment of their kids were also physically punished by their parents when they were young. They claim that it made them tough or that it builds character, but aggressiveness and anger issues, symptoms of being hit as a child, should not be mistaken for toughness or character. Some people claim that the evidence is mixed on whether physical punishment works or not. Considering the studies that have been done and the research showing that it does a lot more harm to your child than good, I don’t understand how people can still have this view. Hitting or physically harming someone is never okay, especially when it comes to children. Violence is still violence, no matter how you spin it.