Canadian Cancer Society calls on Ontario to cover cost of take-home drugs

The Canadian Cancer Society is urging Ontario to cover the costs of take-home cancer medications in the same way it does those that are administered in hospital.

The society’s provincial advocate manager says that Ontario is one of Canada’s only provinces that does not cover the costs of oral medications.

It’s a gap in coverage that can cost patients thousands of dollars each month.

Hillary Buchan-Terrell says the organization has been advocating for full coverage for all medications for over a decade.

The 2022 budget brought a glimmer of hope for those advocates, after it promised an advisory table to explore improving access to the drugs.

However, Buchan-Terrell says that promise still has yet to be fulfilled.

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The society estimates that the cost of covering these drugs to the province would range from $17 million to $44 million a year, depending on whether a first-payer model is used or acts solely as a backup for patients without enough coverage.

A spokesperson for Health Minister Sylvia Jones says the government is committed to assembling the advisory table promised two years ago to explore improvements in accessing these take-home medications.

“Ontario will continue to work with key stakeholders, subject matter experts and federal, provincial and territorial partners to identify additional initiatives to achieve long‐term sustainability of public drug programs,” Hannah Jensen wrote in a statement.

Despite this affirmation from the Minister’s team, a potential timeline has not been announced.

This report was created with files from The Canadian Press 

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