Carleton University’s Marc-André Gagnon, associate professor in the “The report presents a clear and coherent vision of a public drug plan that is universal, comprehensive, evidence-based and sustainable,” said Gagnon. “This is Pharmacare for Canada. It would work in conjunction with medicare to promote the health and well-being of Canadians.”
With a strong consensus among experts and the public, the vision of what pharmacare should be for Canada is now clear. The task therefore turns to the art and science of program development and implementation. This will be difficult and will require political leadership and inter-jurisdictional collaboration – but it is not impossible, as Canadian medicare has shown.”
The full report is available here. A summary of recommendations, covering issues such as access, fairness, safety and value for money, is available here.
The report comes on the heels of public opinion research by the Angus Reid Institute, showing that the vast majority of Canadians support such a vision of pharmacare.
Gagnon is also co-author of a new study that concludes that Medicare Part D Medication prices in the U.S. are significantly higher than those in Medicaid, the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) and 30 other countries.
In a letter sent to Congress, the authors call for a House-Senate committee to be formed to draft legislation that would lower Medicare Part D prices to those of Medicaid or the VHA. Doing so could save Medicare Part D between $15.2 billion and $16 billion a year and reduce the number of people who don’t fill their prescriptions for financial reasons, the authors say.
The study, which was partially based on previously unpublished data, compared prices paid to manufacturers for a standardized group of brand-name medications in the 31 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries, including the U.S.
“We thought that brand-name medicines were a little bit more expensive for Part D, but we never thought that it would be twice as much as in other developed countries,” said Gagnon. “It is like pouring money down the drain.”
Gagnon co-authored the report with Dr. Sidney Wolfe, co-founder and senior adviser of Public Citizen’s Health Research Group.
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