Imagine you have just been diagnosed with a life-threatening disease. Cancer. Heart failure. Multiple Sclerosis. Cystic Fibrosis.
The initial shock of bad news is lessened when you hear there is a drug therapy that could save your life.
But then, the second bomb drops. The drug is not covered through your provincial health or drug insurance plan, and your family hasn’t the means to pay for your medication.
What do you do? Do remortgage your home? Sell your car or other assets? Take out an expensive bank loan? Nothing at all?
As you deal with the worry and stress, you receive the final blow. The treatment recommended for you is available and insured in other provinces, but not yours.
This is the reality for untold thousands of Canadians.
Inconsistent reimbursement policies between the provinces mean that someone suffering a specific condition in one province has access to treatment, while someone with the same disease living just a few hundred kilometres away does not.
Navigating the system adds yet another layer of burden to the patient’s life. Suffering from a rare disease such as multiple myeloma may limit availability of a drug. Making more than a small designated annual income may also limit a patient’s accessibility, even though treatments can run into the thousands of dollars per month—prohibitive even to those making generous salaries.
What’s more, one in nine Canadians—over three million people—are in danger of facing this critical dilemma in the future as they lack sufficient drug coverage.
The issue is well known to government. In 2003, the federal and provincial governments committed to the implementation of a National Catastrophic Drug Coverage program to ensure that Canadians, no matter where they live, have equal and timely access to the most effective medications designed to fight their disease. Some provinces have taken action, but a comprehensive national program has yet to be founded.
The time to act is now. For thousands of Canadians, further delays are literally a matter of life and death.
Because, in Canada, where you live shouldn’t determine if you live.
