User Fees Did Not Curb Canada's Drug Consumption

Despite the introduction of a C$2 ($1.47) user fee for senior citizens in Canada, there has been little impact on the consumption of prescription medicines, according to local reports.

At the launch of the user fee, there had been a small reduction in the number of medicines dispensed for elderly people, but this has now rebounded, according to a Quebec health insurance board study. In the year after the introduction of the user fee, prescription numbers declined by 10.2% from 24.4 million to 21.9 million.

However, in the following year the number rose 6.7%. Pierre Martin, a researcher at the insurance board, said the figures are deceptive because the fee was accompanied by new measures to encourage longer-duration prescriptions. Nevertheless, he admitted the fee had clearly reined in the number of prescriptions during the first year, albeit they have recovered to previous levels. The fee also contributed to a drop in the rate of increase of the cost of the drug insurance program for the elderly.