Canada think-tank claims Rx costs "not lower" than in USA

Canadian government policies around the pricing and reimbursement of prescription drugs do not produce lower costs for Canadians compared to US citizens, according to a new study from the Fraser Institute, a free market-orientated think-tank. The group's report, The Cost Burden of Prescription Drug Spending in Canada and the United States, claims that Canadians are spending about the same percentage of their incomes on prescription drugs as they would in the USA.

"American public policies rely more on free-market forces like private insurance, price signals, consumer choice and competition to determine the premium paid for new drug innovations as well as to discount the price of generic drugs," according to Brett Skinner, the Institute's director of health, pharmaceutical and insurance policy research, who is also the study's lead author.

By contrast, he notes: "in Canada, governments increasingly rely on public drug programs, price controls, formulary restrictions, forced generic substitution and central planning."