Prescription drugs equally affordable in Canada and USA

Government intervention in Canada’s prescription drug market through regulation, price controls, and public drug insurance programs fails to make prescription drugs more affordable for consumers, finds a new report released by the Fraser Institute, Canada’s leading public policy think-tank.

“Canadian health policies are based on the assumption that many people won’t be able to afford prescription drugs unless government regulates the market and controls prices. But personal drug costs in the USA are just as affordable, on average, as in Canada, and the USA has a freer and more competitive market than Canada,” said Mark Rovere, Fraser Institute associate director of health policy studies and co-author of the report, titled Average Personal Affordability of Prescription Drug Spending in Canada and the United States 2011.

“The evidence shows that affordability is not a valid justification for broad-based government intervention in prescription drug markets, and that means the public cost of supporting this government intervention is basically wasted money.”