Paying for Rent or Medication: A Decision Canadians with Diabetes Should Not Have to Make
Study findings released by the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES) and St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto concluded that access to affordable medications is essential for people with diabetes to manage their disease. This is particularly true for low-income Ontarians with diabetes younger than age 65 to lower their risk of mortality from cardiovascular disease and improve their quality of life. Eighty per cent of Canadians with diabetes die from a heart attack or stroke. The report notes that low socio-economic status (SES) is “a strong predictor of death” for people with diabetes.
Younger, low-income Canadians with diabetes face a heavier financial burden due to their inability to afford private insurance plans and reliance on government diabetes programs for support, which limit public coverage for those younger than age 65. This results in greater out-of-pocket costs if government programs do not cover the required diabetes medications, devices and supplies. The Ontario drug formulary only lists ten of the 25 diabetes drugs approved, two are restricted and 13 are not listed at all.
The average out-of-pocket cost for a person with type 2 diabetes in Ontario ranges from almost $2,100 to $2,800 annually depending on a person’s income and eligibility for government support according to the Canadian Diabetes Association’s report The Burden of Out-of-Pocket Costs for Canadians with Diabetes. Lower income Ontarians pay almost twice as much in out-of-pocket expenses as a proportion of their income for diabetes medications as those Ontarians with higher incomes. This report also reveals that 57 per cent of Canadians with diabetes do not comply with their prescribed medical therapy, because they simply cannot afford their medications, devices and supplies, compromising how they manage their disease.
“People with diabetes incur substantial costs to manage their disease. These costs are particularly difficult for low-income Canadians, such as those who do not receive social assistance or those who have high drug costs, but do not qualify for other forms of assistance,” said Dr. Janet Hux, Chief Scientific Advisor, Canadian Diabetes Association. “To prevent or delay even more costly and devastating health complications, people with diabetes deserve equal and affordable access to essential medications, supplies and medical devices, regardless of age, income level and where they live in Canada.”