CMAJ • March 27, 2007; 176 (7). doi:10.1503/cmaj.070273.
© 2007 Canadian Medical Association or its licensors
All editorial matter in CMAJ represents the opinions of the authors and not necessarily those of the Canadian Medical Association.
This Article
Right arrow Figures Only
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when eLetters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Pindera, L.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow Articles by Pindera, L.
Related Collections
Right arrow Other drug use
Right arrow Canadian government

NEWS

Quebec extends free drug coverage to 300 000

Loreen Pindera

Montréal, Que.

Anti-poverty groups in Quebec are welcoming a government initiative to extend free prescription medication benefits to nearly 300 000 additional people — those on welfare and senior citizens on limited incomes.

Quebec Health Minister Philippe Couillard announced the move on Feb. 1, at the same time detailing a plan to lift the freeze on prescription drug prices in effect since 1994.

"The price freeze was no longer sustainable," Couillard said. "We were facing a situation where some manufacturers were ready to withdraw their products from the Quebec market."

As of Apr. 18, pharmaceutical companies will be free to increase prices to match the inflation rate, which hovered at about 2% last year.


Figure 9
View larger version (71K):
[in this window]
[in a new window]

  		Figure. Photo by: Digital Stock

 
Patent drugs will also be allowed to stay 15 years on the list of eligible prescriptions under the province's mandatory public drug plan, even if cheaper generic versions come on the market. Couillard said the measure is meant to help secure the 20 000 jobs in Quebec's patent pharmaceutical sector.

Quebec has been assessing its provincial drug plan for 3 years. Since it was introduced a decade ago, costs have ballooned from $1.1 billion in 1997 to $3 billion in 2006. That in turn sent premiums sky-rocketing. In 1997, Quebecers without private drug insurance plans were compelled to join the public plan, paying $175 annually in premiums. By 2006, that premium was $538.

Making drugs free to another 300 000 people at the bottom of the income ladder is a significant improvement to the drug plan, says Aaron Lakoff, a community organizer at Project Genesis, a group in Côte-des-Neiges, one of Montréal's poorest neighbourhoods.

Until now, most welfare recipients paid premiums of $16 per month under the mandatory prescription drug plan. But with welfare hovering around $560 a month for a single person, even that small amount was significant.

Several community groups are calling on the government to extend the free drug plan to the working poor — another estimated 300 000 in Montréal alone— who earn less than $20 000 per year.

Health professionals say lifting the freeze on prescription drug prices was inevitable, as Quebec's market is too small to dictate prices to global pharmaceutical giants. But they acknowledge that ending the moratorium will almost certainly translate into higher insurance premiums.

"Premiums will eventually go up," agrees Lakoff. "So, the health minister is giving a small candy to the poor while giving quite a large gift to the big pharmaceutical companies who are going to benefit from the increase in the price of medication."

Footnotes

Loreen Pindera is a journalist with CBC Radio in Montréal.





This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 CMAJHome page
J. L. McGowan MLIS, P. Ellis MLIS, and P. Tugwell MD MSc
Access to the medical literature
Can. Med. Assoc. J., July 17, 2007; 177(2): 176 - 177.
[Full Text] [PDF]

This Article
Right arrow Figures Only
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when eLetters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Pindera, L.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow Articles by Pindera, L.
Related Collections
Right arrow Other drug use
Right arrow Canadian government