A special panel convened to make recommendations on the future of prescription drug coverage in Canada is calling on the federal government to create a universal public insurance plan for necessary medicines. The Citizens’ Reference Panel on Pharmacare, which is made up of 35 people from every province and territory randomly selected in a “civic […]
Canada shouldn’t adopt New Zealand’s national pharmacare system, a new study from the Canadian Health Policy Institute argues. The study by the think-tank examined prices for 248 drugs in nine clinical categories and found 74 per cent were approved for marketing in New Zealand, compared to 90 per cent in Canada. New Zealand also has […]
The pharmaceutical company Mylan has been making headlines this week for hiking U.S. prices for EpiPens by 500 per cent. In 2007, two EpiPens cost about $100. Today, the same set costs $600. As concerns about the price hikes mount, the public outcry has caused Mylan to promise a generic EpiPen that it will sell for $300 […]
Now that the marketplace has moved past the golden era of drug plan management, where one could do nothing and see cost trends level off (or decline), it comes as no surprise that fear is setting in as the reality of cost increases set in.
A national single-payer pharmacare program is unnecessary and will be costly for Canadian patients and taxpayers, a study says.
Moving to a publicly-funded, single-payer system for prescription drugs could save Canada billions of dollars, finds a study by The Mowat Centre.
An Institute for Research on Public Policy study says discontinuing seniors’ drug benefits is a step in the wrong direction. Provinces should instead provide full and universal coverage of prescription drug costs for all and finance the new programs through personal income taxes.
With the current Canada Health Accord set to expire in 2014, the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions is urging premiers to work with Ottawa to create a universal public drug program.
Canada's provincial pharmacare systems have flaws not found in other developed countries that could be addressed by integrating prescription drug coverage into the broader healthcare system, according to a report.
Employers that are considering dropping dental coverage from their benefits plan following the launch of the national dental care program are advised to think twice, says Graham Young, director of employee benefits at Capcorp Financial Corp. The national plan — administered by Health Canada, with support from a third-party benefits administrator — provides dental coverage for uninsured Canadians with […]