Universal drug plan could save billions: PBO

Canada has some of the highest prescription drug costs in the world

OTTAWA — A national, universal pharmacare program that all but eliminates all outof-pocket expenses for Canadians who need to fill their prescriptions could slash the overall price tag for drugs in this country by more than $4 billion a year.

The parliamentary budget officer came up with that number Thursday in an analysis of the potential impact of a universal pharmacare program.

The savings would come largely from the impact of bulk purchases of drugs, allowing Health Canada to negotiate better prices for most pharmaceuticals, as well as an increase in the use of generic drugs.

However, the plan — which would replace all provincial and private drug plans — would still carry a price tag of more than $19 billion, and the federal government isn’t exactly jumping up and down with excitement to do it.

The government will analyze the report, but the current system needs work as it is before anything can be done about moving to a universal program, Bill Blair, the parliamentary secretary to the minister of health, said Thursday in question period.

NDP health critic Don Davies said Canada is the only country that has a universal health care program without an accompanying universal pharmacare system.

Canada has some of the highest prescription drug costs in the world, outstripped among industrialized countries only by the United States and Mexico.

“The high cost of pharmaceuticals is forcing too many Canadians to choose between filling their fridge and filling their prescriptions,” Davies said in the House of Commons.

In 2015, an Angus Reid poll found almost one in four Canadians chose not to fill or renew prescriptions, or skipped doses, because of the high cost of buying medicine.

The PBO analysis found in 2015-16, about $28.5 billion was spent on pharmaceuticals in Canada, not including medicines provided to patients in hospitals. Provinces and the federal government paid for $13.1 billion of that, private insurance companies covered $10.7 billion and individual Canadians were on the hook for $4.7 billion.

Using lists of drugs covered by provincial health plans, the PBO decided about $24.6 billion would be eligible for coverage by a national pharmacare program. The rest was spent on drugs that are not currently covered.

Every province has its own list of drugs which are covered by provincial pharmacare programs and the PBO used Quebec’s list for this analysis.

Looking at the various options for cost savings, the PBO believes a national pharmacare program could have cut the annual costs of those drugs to $20.4 billion.