Some Canadian cancer patients are being forced to cash in their savings and hold fundraisers just to pay for their cancer treatments, all because Canada still doesn't have a catastrophic drug program.
A Canadian Cancer Society report released Monday finds that about 1 in 12 Canadians face "huge" costs from their the medications prescribed by their oncologists, meaning more than three per cent of a household's net income.
While cancer patients have their medications paid for when they are in hospital, as soon as they leave, they need to arrange their own financing for the medications.
While many have private insurance plans through their workplace, many others do no, such as self-employed and seasonal workers.
Even for those Canadians who have drug plans at work, many patients have to face co-payments of up to 20 per cent of the drugs' costs, or caps on how much the plans will reimburse over a lifetime.
With three-quarters of cancer drugs taken at home now costing over $20,000 a year, those co-payments can add up quickly.
More recent cancer drugs, some of which are not yet approved by some drug plans, can cost an average of $65,000 - almost as high as the average annual income of Canadian families.
The Canadian Cancer Society says many Canadians are forced to carry the burden of those costs themselves because Canada still has a patchwork system of drug coverage that leaves significant disparities between provinces, and between public and private insurers, about which drugs are covered.
Cancer drugs are fully covered in only three provinces: B.C., Alberta and Saskatchewan, and two territories: Nunavut and NWT. This means that a patient in one province may not have access to drugs that someone in another province has.
There are also no nationally agreed-upon standards for how much a cancer patient should be expected to pay out of pocket for prescription drugs.
The Canadian Cancer Society say what's needed is a nationwide catastrophic drug plan.
"The Canadian Cancer Society strongly believes that all Canadians must have access to cancer drug treatments without financial hardship, no matter where they live in this country," the Cancer society's director of public Issues, Dan Demer, said a new release.
"During cancer treatment a person needs to focus on their health. It is not a time for a patient to worry about how they are going to pay for the drugs. This is simply unacceptable."
The Cancer Society will be holding symposium on the topic of cancer drug access this week in Ottawa. It also hopes to see the topic addressed at the annual conference of provincial and territorial health ministers later this week in Winnipeg.
In 2008, the health ministers called on the federal government to work with them to improve drug access within Canada's publicly-funded system.
"One year later, our country is still facing the same issues with catastrophic drug costs," says Demers. "Action must be taken so that Canadians' confidence in our universal healthcare system doesn't erode."
