Estimated effects of adding universal public coverage of an essential medicines list to existing public drug plans in Canada.

Estimated effects of adding universal public coverage of an essential medicines list to existing public drug plans in Canada. CMAJ. 2017 Feb 27;189(8):E295-E302 Authors: Morgan SG, Li W, Yau B, Persaud N Abstract BACKGROUND: Canada's universal health care system does not include universal coverage of prescription drugs. We sought to estimate the effects of adding universal public coverage of an essential medicines list to existing public drug plans in Canada. METHODS: We used administrative and market research data to estimate the 2015 shares of the volume and cost of prescriptions filled in the community setting that were for 117 drugs on a model list of essential medicines for Canada. We compared prices of these essential medicines in Canada with prices in the United States, Sweden and New Zealand. We estimated the cost of adding universal public drug coverage of these essential medicines based on anticipated effects on medication use and pricing. RESULTS: The 117 essential medicines on the model list accounted for 44% of all prescriptions and 30% of total prescription drug expenditures in 2015. Average prices of generic essential medicines were 47% lower in the US, 60% lower in Sweden and 84% lower in New Zealand; brand-name drugs were priced 43% lower in the US. Estimated savings from universal public coverage of these essential medicines was $4.27 billion per year (range $2.72 billion to $5.83 billion; 28% reduct...
Source: cmaj - Category: Journals (General) Authors: Tags: CMAJ Source Type: research