How much do drugs cost your patients?

Shelley Martin

A recent report from the Canadian Institute for Health Information indicates that total spending on drugs in Canada is expected to have reached $18.1 billion in 2002. This represents 16.2% of all health expenditures in Canada forecast for 2002, and is the second-largest share of total health spending, behind hospital costs ($35.2 billion) but ahead of spending on physician services ($15.0 billion).

Figure.

Prescription drugs account for $14.6 billion of total drug expenditures, while over-the-counter drugs and personal health supplies account for $3.6 billion.

Per capita spending on prescription drugs in 2002 is expected to have reached $463.90 in 2002, up from $430.62 in 2001 — an increase of 6.9% (adjusted for inflation). In 2002, per capita spending was highest in Ontario and Quebec, at $507.36 and $503.59, and lowest in Nunavut ($226.70), the Northwest Territories ($312.27) and British Columbia ($353.00).

It is expected that 45% of prescription drug costs in 2002 will have been paid from public funds, while 33% will have been paid for by private insurers and 22% will be out-of-pocket expenses. These proportions have remained relatively stable throughout the past decade. There is considerable variation among provinces in the proportion of prescription drug costs paid from public funds, ranging from 33.6% in Prince Edward Island to 51.5% in British Columbia. Payments from the public purse in the territories tend to be much higher, reaching 76.9% in Nunavut. — Shelley Martin, Senior Analyst, CMA Research, Policy and Planning Directorate