CLHIA-ACCAP

When I became the CLHIA Chair last May, it was already clear then that the year ahead would present numerous challenges for our industry. However, even I did not expect the breadth and scope of the challenges we faced, and for the most part the successes we had in meeting them. Overcoming Challenges There were a number of successes in the year. First, the proposed Ontario Retirement Pension Plan (ORPP) did not proceed. stakeholders in developing a grassroots social media campaign to bring attention to the issue and encourage Canadians to write to their MPs. There was a collective sigh of relief when the Prime Minister announced that this initiative would not be moving ahead. During the year, we continued to fight for lower prescription drug prices for all Canadians, whether they belong to public or private plans. We are working closely with all levels of government to achieve prices for prescription drugs in Canada that are more in line with international pricing. In particular, we have been engaging with the Patented Medicine Prices Review Board and the Pan-Canadian Pharmaceutical Alliance and are seeing progress on both these fronts. Another priority has been to ensure that our industry's distribution practices are in step with customer needs and expectations, and that we, not regulators, are taking the high road on what it means to treat customers fairly. While distribution practices will continue to vary significantly across companies, we have been able to achieve broad consensus on a new, more consistent model for the oversight of Chair's Message I did not expect the breadth and scope of the challenges we faced, and for the most part the successes we had in meeting them. We, along with 14 other organizations, formed a coalition to encourage a national approach, and while the CPP enhancements announced by the Finance Ministers in June were not as targeted as we would have liked, they still represented a significant improvement over the ORPP. We also took a leadership role in rebuffing a serious threat to the affordability of health and dental benefit plans. The federal government had floated the idea of taxing these plans, which would have had a negative impact, particularly on middle-class Canadians and their families. Once again, we worked with a number of A Message from the President and CEO Board of Directors Review of the Year's Results CLHIA Code of Member Service Members CLHIA Officers Chair's Message

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