Public insurance schemes, not Rx drug costs, responsible for runaway health spending in Canada, says think tank

Prescription drugs are not to blame for the unsustainable growth of government health spending in Canada, concludes a new study released this week by the Fraser Institute, Canada’s leading public policy think-tank.

“The flawed design of government health and drug insurance programs is what’s bankrupting the Canadian health care system, not the price of prescription drugs or new patented medicines,” said Mark Rovere, Fraser Institute associate director of health policy research and co-author of The Misguided War Against Medicines 2010. “Government spending on all areas of health care other than prescription drugs consumes more than 90% of total government spending on health care. Clearly, it’s wrong to single out drug expenditures as the cause of rising health care costs,” he added.

The Misguided War Against Medicines 2010 examines all of the ways in which spending on drugs may contribute to the overall growth in total government health spending. The evidence suggests that neither patented medicines in particular, nor prescription drugs in general, can be blamed for the unsustainable growth rates of government health spending.