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This article, written by Wasem Alsabbagh, of the University of Waterloo, was originally published in The Conversation and is republished here with permission:
I recently came out of the hospital after a heart attack. I needed ticagrelor, an anticoagulant, in addition to several other essential medications. The first bill at my pharmacy cost more than $ 300.
I earn a good living as an badistant professor at the University of Waterloo, but I would have found the cost high if my employer's insurance had not covered 80% of the bill. What about my fellow citizens who do not have coverage for prescription drugs?
Nearly one million Canadians reduced their household's food and heat expenses to pay for their drugs in 2016, according to a study presented in the final report of the Advisory Council on the Implementation of the National Drug Plan. 39; drug: An order for Canada: Making drug insurance for everyone. And one in five households said that a family member had been prevented from taking a prescribed medication because of its cost.
That's why we need a national pharmacare plan.
Research evidence clearly shows that prescription drug coverage is necessary for people to take their prescribed medications. Providing coverage for essential and effective drugs would be an "ounce of prevention" that is worthy of being cured in our short – run Canadian health care system.
Patients not taking medication
I'm doing research using population databases to examine the effects of health policies on clinical outcomes such as hypertension and the observance of statin therapy.
We know that evidence-based drugs, such as cholesterol (such as statins) and anticoagulants, help patients prevent clinical events while saving the health system money.
Nevertheless, many studies have shown that a significant proportion of patients still do not take their medications. For example, one study shows that one in five patients stopped taking their statin one year after their heart attack. Low adhesion rates have also been reported for other cardiovascular drugs, including anticoagulants such as ticagrelor and clopidogrel.
While it is difficult to identify a single factor as the leading cause of non-compliance, several factors related to the health care system, including prescription drug coverage, are among the most important factors.
One graduate student in our research group estimated in her master's thesis that almost one-quarter of non-compliance with drug treatment for hypertension and diabetes – a common and devastating clinical condition in Canada – is badociated with insufficient coverage of prescription drugs.
She estimated that the universal drug benefit for 13 patients would help a Canadian adhere to drugs for hypertension and diabetes.
By extending these results to all drugs for the treatment of chronic diseases, pharmacare is expected to improve outcomes for the health of Canadians and generate significant savings for the health care system.
Cheaper than a heart attack
Clopidogrel, a blood anticoagulant, can reduce future clinical events by 20%, including deaths from cardiovascular causes, heart attacks or strokes, if patients are treated after a heart attack. New drugs – such as ticagrelor, the one I needed – should have even deeper effects.
In contrast, premature discontinuation of bleeding was badociated with a five- or seven-fold increase in the risk of future events.
In Canada, the direct cost of a heart attack is approximately $ 15,000, or 60% of the total cost. Most patients who survive a heart attack need to take aspirin all their lives and need a second anticoagulant for a year or more.
As a result, it would be reasonable to reduce costs to cover anticoagulants – with all the othersedications – on a national pharmacare plan.
– Wasem Alsabbagh, Assistant Professor of Pharmacy, University of Waterloo
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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