It's a buzzword in the medical community, although one that hasn't quite caught fire yet with Canadians at large: pharmacare, a national program that would see prescription drugs covered through a publicly-funded system rather than out of pocket.
Many doctors are clamouring for it. Canadians dream of it when faced with sky-high drug costs as they fight cancer, diabetes, heart disease and other illnesses. Even private insurers aren't entirely opposed.
Seniors' prescription co-payments questioned
And now politicians are starting to take up the cause. The federal NDP is calling for national pharmacare, while Ontario's new health minister has emerged one of its most enthusiastic cheerleaders as he urges a federal strategy.
A successful public health-care system isn't just about access to a family doctor or an MRI, Eric Hoskins, also a doctor, says.
Canada, with its aging population, is the only industrialized nation with universal health insurance but no public coverage of prescription drug costs.
An estimated one in 10 Canadians can't fill prescriptions because of the expense. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development has also found that Canada has the second highest per capita spending on prescription drugs in the OECD.
That's largely because there's no national standard for drug coverage or drug purchasing in Canada. The patchwork of provincial and territorial health-care systems means Canadians with life-threatening illnesses are confronted with costs that can vary wildly from province to province.
Even if ailing Canadians have private drug coverage, their insurers may refuse to reimburse them if the medications aren't considered to be offering value for money. Many medications, especially so-called orphan drugs that are prescribed for rare illnesses, are exceedingly expensive in Canada.
Canada pays generic companies about 18% of the price of the brand-name drugs, whereas in other countries, generic companies are asked to bid on contracts, she says.
Canada also fails to buy drugs in bulk, the way the other OECD countries do — although the provinces and territories have started to work together on bulk purchasing, one expert says.
A recently released study commissioned by the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions determined there are potential savings of up to $11.4 billion a year for Canadian taxpayers via pharmacare due to decreased drugs costs and reduced administration fees.
Pharmacare would also improve access to an array of prescription drugs for aging Canadians, the study found.
Federal Health Minister Rona Ambrose didn't commit to a national strategy last week when pharmacare was raised as she met with her provincial and territorial counterparts in Banff.
Stephen Frank, vice-president of policy development and health for the Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association, says private insurers are stung by high drug prices too. About 60% of Canadians have private drug coverage, most through their employers.
Related Stories
