Results from an experimental program that provides free prescription drugs to hundreds of people in Ontario suggest covering the cost of medication produces overall savings for the health-care system.
, tracked a total of 747 patients who reported that the high cost of drugs has forced them to leave prescriptions unfilled or stretch out the time between doses. About half were randomly selected to have their drugs fully covered.
"I was surprised by the magnitude of the savings," said Dr. Nav Persaud, one of the study's authors, a Canada Research Chair in Health Justice and a staff physician at St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto. The study comes as Canadians wait to see if legislation enabling a universal pharmacare plan will be tabled by the end of 2023,between the federal Liberals and New Democrats.
The 128 medications included in the research are some of the most commonly prescribed in Canada and are used for treating conditions ranging from diabetes and high blood pressure to depression and schizophrenia. Persaud said these prescriptions usually cost anywhere from about a penny a day to more than $1,000 a treatment, with the typical patient paying $30 to $40 a month.
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