{"id":3739,"date":"2025-07-18T17:52:42","date_gmt":"2025-07-18T17:52:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/3739\/"},"modified":"2025-07-18T17:52:42","modified_gmt":"2025-07-18T17:52:42","slug":"prescription-drug-costs-are-forcing-canadians-to-make-dangerous-trade-offs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/3739\/","title":{"rendered":"Prescription drug costs are forcing Canadians to make dangerous trade-offs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

High drug costs lead many people to split pills, miss doses or halt prescriptions.GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n

Heather Evans, 60, used to eat boxed macaroni and cheese three times a week, but not because she loved it. She had to scrimp on her food budget to afford the thousands of dollars a month for the medication keeping her alive. <\/p>\n

Ms. Evans was diagnosed with a chronic heart condition in her 30s. \u201cI had my first two heart attacks when I was 39. I didn\u2019t sleep for almost 10 months because I was afraid I wouldn\u2019t wake up, and I didn\u2019t want my five-year-old son to find me gone.\u201d <\/p>\n

At the time, Ms. Evans was an unemployed single mom in Calgary with no health insurance benefits. Most prescription medications aren\u2019t covered under Canada\u2019s universal health care plan, meaning patients without extended benefits have to foot the bill. Canada is the only country with universal health care that does not have universal coverage for prescription drugs (outside hospitals). <\/p>\n

The cost of survival nearly broke Ms. Evans. \u201cYou go to sleep with tears in your eyes, worried about the next day. If it wasn\u2019t for my doctor giving me samples for so many years, I don\u2019t know that I\u2019d be here today.\u201d <\/p>\n

As millions of Canadians struggle to cope with the cost of their medications, many have taken drastic steps to alleviate the pressure, often leading to a worsening of their symptoms over time. <\/p>\n

A 2024 survey<\/a> by Leger found that nearly one in four Canadians (22 per cent) say they\u2019ve split pills, skipped doses, or chosen not to fill or renew a prescription because of the cost. The survey also revealed that 1 in 10 Canadians living with chronic conditions have landed in emergency after their health worsened because they couldn\u2019t afford the medications they needed. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere are real downstream impacts. If you can\u2019t access drugs for prevention purposes you end up burdening the health care system, and that\u2019s much more expensive,\u201d says Manuel Arango, director of Health Policy and Advocacy for the Heart and Stroke Foundation. \u201cIt\u2019s way more cost effective to provide these drugs and tear down affordability barriers, so that people can be healthy, manage their conditions and stay out of the emergency rooms.\u201d <\/p>\n

Canada has a patchwork of public drug benefit programs (with varying eligibilities), along with many private insurance plans. But insurance coverage, while helpful, isn\u2019t a guarantee of affordability.\u202fThe 2019 Hoskins report<\/a> about pharmacare implementation found that about 7.5 million Canadians still face high out-of-pocket costs. <\/p>\n

Gaps in coverage are made worse by shifting work patterns and employer plans that offload costs onto workers, putting part-time, contract, and low-income workers most at risk. <\/p>\n

Canada\u2019s proposed national pharmacare plan<\/a> aims to provide coverage for essential prescription medications. The federal government says the program will roll out in phases, and has already started with coverage for contraceptives and diabetes drugs in British Columbia, Prince Edward Island, Manitoba and Yukon. <\/p>\n

The plan\u2019s advisory panel recommended covering medications for cardiac conditions, but they remain uncovered. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe appreciate these initial steps the government has taken, but we need to move more quickly,\u201d says Mr. Arango. \u201cWe need to get on the same playing field as all other countries that have universal health care systems and institute universal drug coverage.\u201d <\/p>\n

A recent study<\/a> from Arthritis Research Canada (ARC) showed that for nearly 1 in 20 people aged 12 or older, cost is a major barrier to taking their medications as prescribed. Some groups face higher risks for non-adherence with prescriptions, including women, members of racialized communities and people with diverse sexual orientations.\u202fEach skipped dose has ramifications for patients, says Dr. Mary De Vera, an ARC senior scientist. <\/p>\n

\u201cDrugs are health care. So why is it so disjointed?\u201d\u202fshe says. \u201cThe ideal situation is that we have a system that mirrors our medical system.\u201d <\/p>\n

Ms. Evans is now the general manager of a GoodLife gym in Calgary, and has health insurance that covers her medication. Others are not as fortunate. She says she wishes decision-makers would put themselves in the shoes of families forced to choose between paying for food or their prescriptions. <\/p>\n

\u201cI want them to think about their own loved ones being in the same situation and tell me they wouldn\u2019t move a mountain to make sure they\u2019d be okay. People are dying because they can\u2019t afford life-saving medications,\u201d Mr. Evans says. \u201cIt\u2019s so unjust and we need to do better.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: High drug costs lead many people to split pills, miss doses or halt…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3740,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[5416,64,63,5421,5419,137,500,490,5418,5417,5420,3287],"class_list":{"0":"post-3739","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-medication","8":"tag-adveditorial","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-drug-costs","12":"tag-drugcosts","13":"tag-health","14":"tag-healthcare","15":"tag-medication","16":"tag-medications","17":"tag-ordid3751604600fs","18":"tag-pharmacare","19":"tag-prescriptions"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3739","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3739"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3739\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3740"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3739"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}