Study suggests that costs of medical-aid-in-dying are outweighed by potential savings
In June last year, parliament passed Bill C-14, effectively lifting prohibition on medical aid in dying (MAID). While the move remains ethically divisive among both the general public and health professionals alike, a newly released study has looked at the measure from a strictly economic perspective.
Referring to a study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, a Globe and Mail article reports that Canada’s MAID law could save the healthcare system as much as $138.8 million a year, depending on how many patients choose to ask a doctor or nurse to help hasten their demise.
Under Bill C-14, patients are allowed to opt for MAID only after two physicians determine that they qualify. The paper’s authors, Dr. Aaron J. Trachtenberg and Dr. Braden Manns, used Ontario physician billing codes to add up the cost of two assessments and an administration of a lethal cocktail of drugs. They then factored in the cost of the drugs, using Alberta’s prescribed regimen of four medications, and the compensation for a pharmacist preparing the chemicals.
They modeled two possible scenarios: a high-cost one that would require specialist consultations and the most expensive drugs, and a low-cost one that required only family doctors and the cheapest drugs. They further assumed that for every patient qualified for MAID, there would be two deemed unqualified after getting two assessments.
All in all, total costs range between $1.5 million and $14.8 million a year. Those expenses are minimal when compared to the potential savings, which the report projects to be between $34.7 million and $138.8 million in reduced annual public healthcare spending.
The authors qualified, however, that their study does not aim to sway the decisions of patients, doctors, or other healthcare providers. Rather, it only seeks to inform provincial health departments that are already dealing with the costs of MAID.
“We’re not asking people involved in the individual decisions to offer or provide MAID to consider cost,” said Trachtenberg, an internal medicine resident at the University of Calgary. “We’re simply asking questions around cost from a systems level, the same way that any large-scale intervention that is going to potentially be paid for by the health-care system should be examined.”
Related stories:
Why is healthcare taking a bigger slice of income each year?
Number of doctor-assisted deaths since mid-June reaches 120, likely more
Referring to a study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, a Globe and Mail article reports that Canada’s MAID law could save the healthcare system as much as $138.8 million a year, depending on how many patients choose to ask a doctor or nurse to help hasten their demise.
Under Bill C-14, patients are allowed to opt for MAID only after two physicians determine that they qualify. The paper’s authors, Dr. Aaron J. Trachtenberg and Dr. Braden Manns, used Ontario physician billing codes to add up the cost of two assessments and an administration of a lethal cocktail of drugs. They then factored in the cost of the drugs, using Alberta’s prescribed regimen of four medications, and the compensation for a pharmacist preparing the chemicals.
They modeled two possible scenarios: a high-cost one that would require specialist consultations and the most expensive drugs, and a low-cost one that required only family doctors and the cheapest drugs. They further assumed that for every patient qualified for MAID, there would be two deemed unqualified after getting two assessments.
All in all, total costs range between $1.5 million and $14.8 million a year. Those expenses are minimal when compared to the potential savings, which the report projects to be between $34.7 million and $138.8 million in reduced annual public healthcare spending.
The authors qualified, however, that their study does not aim to sway the decisions of patients, doctors, or other healthcare providers. Rather, it only seeks to inform provincial health departments that are already dealing with the costs of MAID.
“We’re not asking people involved in the individual decisions to offer or provide MAID to consider cost,” said Trachtenberg, an internal medicine resident at the University of Calgary. “We’re simply asking questions around cost from a systems level, the same way that any large-scale intervention that is going to potentially be paid for by the health-care system should be examined.”
Related stories:
Why is healthcare taking a bigger slice of income each year?
Number of doctor-assisted deaths since mid-June reaches 120, likely more
