Many Canadians skip drug prescriptions due to cost

Canadians are the second most likely to skip a drug prescription among residents of wealthy nations, according to research from the University of British Columbia.

Data from a survey found one in 12 Canadians did not fill a drug prescription because of the cost, said Steve Morgan, senior author of the study and professor in UBC’s school of population and public health.

The 2014 Commonwealth Fund International Health Policy Survey of Older Adults collected data from Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the U.K. and the U.S. The study was published in the journals BMJ Open and CMAJ Open.

“When it comes to accessing medicines, Canada is the second worst health care system of the 11 comparable systems we looked at,” he said.

Canadians fared worst among the 10 countries that have universal health care. In the U.S., the only surveyed country without a publicly-funded system, one in six reported skipping medication because of financial barriers.

A separate analysis of the Canadian data found those aged 55 to 64 face the most significant barriers to filling prescriptions and one in eight skipped doing so for that reason. That drops to one in 20 at age 65 when public coverage for drugs kicks in in many provinces.

B.C. has discontinued age-based prescription coverage, instead offering Fair Pharmacare coverage based on income. Detailed data for B.C. was not available.