Still a treasure
Canadians take note: it’s a myth that this country has the best health-care system in the world. That dispiriting — but entirely correct — diagnosis comes from Jane Philpott. As federal health minister and a former family doctor, she’s in a position to know. It could, however, be worse. A lot worse. Consider the furor underway in the United States over an obscene spike in the price of potentially life-saving EpiPens. Used to deliver an emergency dose of epinephrine, these handy devices can immediately ease serious allergic reactions caused by peanuts, eggs, shellfish, medications, bee stings and insect bites.
Unfortunately for millions of Americans suffering from severe allergies, Mylan Pharmaceuticals, the maker of EpiPens, has radically jacked up its prices since 2007. A package of two injectors, as of May, costs more than $600 (U.S.) while its former price was under $95.
This has prompted understandable outrage from patients, families, physicians, politicians on both sides of the aisle in Congress and from Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
The American Medical Association has warned that parents are experiencing “sticker shock” as they prepare to send kids with allergies back to school. Some may need to choose between buying EpiPens or other essentials.
“With lives on the line, we urge the manufacturer to do all it can to rein in these exorbitant costs,” association president Dr. Andrew Gurman said in a statement released Wednesday.
Individual EpiPens are available online, from a Canadian supplier, for about $160 (U.S.) and it’s no surprise that some American families have been looking north of the border for these devices.
Mylan responded to the uproar on Thursday, not by lowering its price, but by expanding an assistance program for the uninsured and by offering a $300 savings card that would cut the price of an EpiPen in half for eligible patients. It is, quite literally, a halfmeasure.
In this country, EpiPens are distributed by Pfizer Canada and cost about $100 — a price that hasn’t changed in years. A key reason is a federal agency called the Patented Medicine Prices Review Board, which regulates drug costs to avoid precisely the sort of excesses evident in the United States.
There is no doubt Canada’s health care system needs improvement, especially in adopting innovative new ways for experts to collaborate, share medical records and treat at-risk populations. Philpott is right in pointing out, as she did Tuesday, that our system costs more per capita than in many other countries. Yet it often fails to produce better outcomes.
On the other hand, it’s still a treasure compared to south of the border.
U.S. EpiPen pricing furor is reason to give thanks for Canada’s health-care system