Essay On Canadian Pharmacy

General Sales List (GSL). These are medicines which can be bought from any shop without a prescription.

The prices of prescription drugs in the United States are by far the highest in the world. [1] On average, Europeans pay 40% less than Americans for the same medications. [2] Consumers have been resorting to several ways, sometimes putting themselves in harm’s way, to alleviate the burden of high prescription drug costs. Some buy their medications online or cross the borders to neighboring countries so they would be able to afford buying their needed medications. Others have resorted to the illegal act of selling their unused medications in online forums just to recover part of their expenses. Many factors contribute to the increased drug prices in the United States including research and

In Canada the services, medication and hospital fee are controlled by the government, this created a better outcome for the security of the citizen. This regulation can lead to major saving in term of the GDP per capita paid by the government in this regard. The government negotiates drug prices so by doing that prices are more affordable for the people. It’s not necessary the uses of co-pays and deductible, but if any type of charged for any reason this can still be a dissent price by the patient. As result of this Canadian are proud and feel secured by the contribution of the social

Today, Canada is the only industrialized nation without a national pharmacare plan (“Campaign for a National Drug Plan” 1). Currently, each province has its own pharmacare plan and this creates differences in medication prices across the nation. Price depends on drug efficacy, how commonly the drug is used, and to what extent the provincial government decides to subsidize the drug. Overall, drug coverage in Canada depends on a person’s age, income, and the province they live in. Today, one in ten Canadians cannot afford the medications that their doctors prescribe (“Pharmacare 2020” 2). Their lack of

Indeed, except for Canada, every developed country with a universal public healthcare system also has universal public coverage of prescription drugs (13). The Canadian federal government has decided that pharmaceutical coverage is a provincial responsibility and it offers no financial support for provincial drug plans (14). All provinces rely on a mix of private and public drug plans that work separately from each other and the rest of the healthcare system. Age, profession and health needs often determine to what extent a patient receives access to public drug coverage and this leads to millions of Canadians having very little or often no drug coverage at all (14). Most OECD countries offer universal coverage of prescription drugs to the whole population.

A strategy for accessing new treatments at an affordable price for all Canadians is through a bulk purchasing alliance (12). Bulk purchasing involves provincial governments collectively purchasing medicines in larger volumes for the purpose of price reductions from manufacturers (11). Provincial governments are collectively the largest purchasers of drugs in Canada, hence the concern for price increases of drugs (5). Federal leadership is required to coordinate a national approach to bulk purchasing. The newly elected Government of Canada promised to work with provincial and territorial governments to buy patent and generic drugs in bulk through the

Canada’s system is another great example of the affordability of UHC. According to the World Health Organization, check-ups, medications and surgeries are thirty to sixty percent cheaper in Canada than in the U.S. (Merino 132). Why? Well, Diane Francis, author of the National Post article “LBJ Invented Canada’s Superior Health System”, offers one explanation. Francis argues that in Canada drugs are cheaper because Canadian provinces buy the drugs in bulk through a centralized system, unlike the U.S., which makes the government programs Medicare and Medicaid buy from different sources (Merino 132). Because of the monopoly the Canadian government has on the pharmaceutical industry, the price of drugs can be manipulated by the government, making

Although Canadians were largely supportive of the proposed national pharmacare plan, most said they would be concerned if their current private plan was replaced by a national pharmacare program with less coverage, if it increased costs to governments because patients use more prescription drugs than they do now, and of the ability of governments to administer the plan efficiently and effectively - these concerns will later be covered in the ethics section (Canadian Pharmacists Association, 2015).  Many political parties, like the Liberals and NDP, have realized the significance of universal drug coverage to the point that they have included it in campaign promises for both federal and provincial elections. The NDP has even introduced a motion in the House of Commons that gives the Liberal government one year to begin negotiations with the provinces in order to implement universal pharmaceutical drug coverage for all Canadians.  Additionally, both parties’ Ontario provincial election campaigns prominently feature contrasting pharmacare plans: the NDP will offer universal coverage but is limited to 125 medications deemed essential by an independent committee with the commitment to expand the coverage over time as savings are realized, while the Liberals have introduced improvements to the Ontario Drug Plan to cover over 4,400 drugs for the province's four million children and young adults (Fraser, 2017).

One important issue that plagues the Canadian health system is the affordability of prescription drugs, which arises from the medication not being covered under Canada’s current universal health care system (Parliament of Canada). The prescription drugs are either paid out of pocket, or covered a certain percentage depending on their private insurance or benefits given by their profession. For those who cannot afford the medication it causes a dilemma, choosing to take on a financial burden for the sake of their own treatment and without taking the needed treatment the disease may get worse. Since it is out-of-the-pocket the wealthy can obtain the medication, while the poor are handcuffed to do so, therefore making this a financial and an equity

In Canada, drug spending is considered to be the second largest spending category of healthcare ("Protecting Canadians from Excessive Drug Prices", 2017). Ever since Medicare was established in Canada, health expensive has increased to about 16% ("Protecting Canadians from Excessive Drug Prices", 2017). Canada is found to pay way more on prescription drugs than compared to other developed countries ("Protecting Canadians from Excessive Drug Prices", 2017). Not only does the high expense affect the consumer, but it also limits the access to creating new medicines as well as having less resource in other areas in the healthcare field ("Protecting Canadians from Excessive Drug Prices", 2017). As of January 2016, the provincial, federal, and territorial ministers have planned to work together in order to improve the accessibility, affordability, and

Canada’s health care system “can be described as a publicly-funded, privately-provided, universal, comprehensive, affordable, single-payer, provincially administered national health care system” (Bernard, 1992, p.103). Health care in Canada is provincial responsibility, with the Canada Health act being a federal legislation (Bernard, 1992, p. 102). Federal budget cuts, has caused various problems within Medicare such as increased waiting times and lack of new technology. Another problem with Medicare is that The Canada Heath Act does not cover expenditures for prescriptions drugs. All these issue has caused individuals to suggest making Medicare privatized. Although, Canada’s health care system consists of shortcomings, our universal

However, prescriptions drugs has seen a steady cost increase. Not only in out of pocket care but also total health expenditures. In 2015 fourty-two percent of prescribed drug spending is expected to have been financed by the public sector in comparison twenty-two percent is covered out of pocket by Canadians. Fortunately in recent years the trend of prescription drug spending has slowed. The lower growth rate is in part to patent expirations and implementations of generic pricing policies.

Richard, G., Ojala, V., Ojala, A., & Bowles, S. (2012). Monitoring programs for drugs with potential for abuse or misuse in Canada. Canadian Pharmacists Journal. 145(4):

My ideal healthcare in Canada would be about shorter wait times in the emergency department, and National Pharmacare for prescription drugs for all Canadians. The universal healthcare system does not includes universal coverage of prescription drugs (Morgan et al., 2017). According to one study, one in four Canadians can not afford their prescription medications (Mulholland, 2012). Researchers also found that many Canadians do not fill their prescriptions due to cost and the fact that do not have insurance to cover the cost of medications (Mulholland, 2012). When patient do not fill their prescription, they keep going to the emergency department with same problems and which cost a lot more than free medications (Stanbrook, 2015). Universal

The National Forum on Health (NFH), active from 1994 to 1997 under the direction of Prime Minister, Jean Chrétien, sought to find ways to address healthcare and the health of Canadians. (1) Among the long list of health related issues addressed by the NFH, the recommendation of a publically funded pharmacare program. This call has been echoed again by the Commission on the Future of Health Care in Canada, (2)