Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 6888
All Canadians should be equal re Medicine
9/14/2009 at 9:52 PM
Its back in the news again. The latest brought up by the Canadian Cancer Society. It seems that only three provinces cover medicine costs 100 percent. It does seem strange that in one province a medicine cost zero a year for someone( out of pocket ) while another pays 65,000 plus
It seems though some think there is easy answer. It should cost the same across the country. A happy medium ?? One side still says it should be 65,0000 a year cost to coast or the other Zero?
Yes its easy to say Zero but some provinces do not cover some meds because cheaper alternatives exist. Trust me- some drug companies love to reinvent what is already out there by a competitor or repackage their own and make some great marketing moves and the price jumps.
As long a Health is a provincial responsibility not Federal thats the way it will remain- province by province price issues. Somehow if they do figure out away to smooth price things- (Quebec will always opt out) the 65,000 province comes down to still huge amount and the free jumps up to that coin??. Even worse if the benefit of even carrying or allowing that drug to be used in Canada gets dropped because several provinces do not want it as part of the formulary( covered drugs) . Where will that leave us??
THe only thing I Think the Feds could do is to only allow a Drug to be certified for use in Canada ( they and only they have that power) if
A) THere is no similar product out there unless the price is "close"
B) It is made available to each and every province same price with no kick backs or hidden treats to Doctors/medical decision makers in each Province.
C) No matter what the price- its claims are proven.