The province is lagging many other jurisdictions in providing coverage for such cases
Patients and advocates in Ontario are calling for the province to make much-needed improvements in access to take-home cancer treatments.
Working with the CanCertainty Coalition and the Canadian Cancer Society, Lymphoma Canada CEO Robin Markowitz delivered more than 15,000 signed postcards to the Ontario government asking for take-home cancer drugs to be funded by the province, reported the Toronto Sun.
According to Markowitz, take-home cancer medications are increasingly becoming the go-to option for cancer. However, while many other provinces have expanded funding options to make the drugs available to all the patients who need them, Ontario hasn’t kept up.
Daniel Glazerman, whose lymphoma diagnosis and successful treatment came at age 43, said he began to research his treatment options after being advised to prepare for a relapse.
“Two years on a take-home therapy can cost over $200,000,” he said. “If I lived in any other province west of Ontario, this would not be an issue … because every province west of here covers take-home cancer medications.”
Meanwhile, leukaemia patient Sharon Dennis shared how she had to endure odious paperwork and an upfront payment of $5,000 — which was eventually reimbursed by an insurer — for a treatment that had to be replaced by her doctor after it became ineffective.
“I’m afraid to switch (drugs) again because I cannot go through that ordeal again and be months and months without any prescription at all,” she said. “I had to have a blood transfusion.”
Speaking to the legislature, Ontario Health Minister Dr. Eric Hoskins said 89% of cancer patients are seniors with full drug coverage, adding that this coverage has been extended to those under 25. Those who are not covered under these plans or private insurers can also turn to the recently updated and improved Trillium Drug Program, he said.
But New Democratic Part MPP France Gelinas said some four million Ontarians between 25 and 65 don’t have workplace coverage or any other drug plan, and that flaws in the Trillium Drug Plan are still leaving many patients unassisted.
“This … infuriates me,” said Progressive Conservative MPP Bill Walker. “That we have to again, because of [government] mismanagement, scandal, wasted dollars, tell people that they can’t receive the treatment that perhaps their brother or their cousin in another province is getting to help them with that care.”
Related stories:
Ontario health system shows uneven progress
Overlap in drugs covered by public drug plans 'significant': PMPRB
Working with the CanCertainty Coalition and the Canadian Cancer Society, Lymphoma Canada CEO Robin Markowitz delivered more than 15,000 signed postcards to the Ontario government asking for take-home cancer drugs to be funded by the province, reported the Toronto Sun.
According to Markowitz, take-home cancer medications are increasingly becoming the go-to option for cancer. However, while many other provinces have expanded funding options to make the drugs available to all the patients who need them, Ontario hasn’t kept up.
Daniel Glazerman, whose lymphoma diagnosis and successful treatment came at age 43, said he began to research his treatment options after being advised to prepare for a relapse.
“Two years on a take-home therapy can cost over $200,000,” he said. “If I lived in any other province west of Ontario, this would not be an issue … because every province west of here covers take-home cancer medications.”
Meanwhile, leukaemia patient Sharon Dennis shared how she had to endure odious paperwork and an upfront payment of $5,000 — which was eventually reimbursed by an insurer — for a treatment that had to be replaced by her doctor after it became ineffective.
“I’m afraid to switch (drugs) again because I cannot go through that ordeal again and be months and months without any prescription at all,” she said. “I had to have a blood transfusion.”
Speaking to the legislature, Ontario Health Minister Dr. Eric Hoskins said 89% of cancer patients are seniors with full drug coverage, adding that this coverage has been extended to those under 25. Those who are not covered under these plans or private insurers can also turn to the recently updated and improved Trillium Drug Program, he said.
But New Democratic Part MPP France Gelinas said some four million Ontarians between 25 and 65 don’t have workplace coverage or any other drug plan, and that flaws in the Trillium Drug Plan are still leaving many patients unassisted.
“This … infuriates me,” said Progressive Conservative MPP Bill Walker. “That we have to again, because of [government] mismanagement, scandal, wasted dollars, tell people that they can’t receive the treatment that perhaps their brother or their cousin in another province is getting to help them with that care.”
Related stories:
Ontario health system shows uneven progress
Overlap in drugs covered by public drug plans 'significant': PMPRB
