In response to a column by André Picard in The Globe and Mail about recent changes to OHIP+, RNAO CEO Doris Grinspun warns in a July 6 letter that relying on the private insurance plans of Ontarians will come at a hefty price. 

The lack of drug coverage is a gaping hole in Canada’s medicare system. As André Picard notes, there are two basic approaches to fixing that gap: a government pharmacare program, and government drug insurance for people not covered by private drug insurance. Quebec follows the latter private path, and Ontario Premier Doug Ford is moving in that direction.

Research in the Canadian Medical Association Journal warns the private approach used in Quebec may have expanded drug insurance coverage, but at a hefty price: very high per capita drug expenditures, increased out-of-pocket costs, and 8.7 per cent of people skipping doses because of those costs. It is the worst of both worlds, with high costs and inadequate access.

Properly designed, a universal public pharmacare program could save Canadians $7.3-billion a year, with better access to prescription drugs. Mr. Picard speaks optimistically about new approaches and compromise, but the private approach to pharmacare is not new or innovative.

It is a terrible compromise.