A simple diagnosis

The Globe and Mail reports that effecive two-tier health care is making inroads across Canada due to the reluctance of provincial plans to add high-cost cancer drugs:

For the first time, cancer patients across Canada will be offered what the public health-care system has been unable to deliver: intravenous drugs not covered by medicare for those who want to prolong their lives or fend off a recurrence -- for a price.

In what could be likened to one-stop shopping, patients can buy cancer medicine not paid for by their provincial governments, and in some cases, receive financial assistance. Medication will be administered by a nurse, under a doctor's supervision, in one of 18 infusion clinics across Canada...

For the first time, cancer patients across Canada will be offered what the public health-care system has been unable to deliver: intravenous drugs not covered by medicare for those who want to prolong their lives or fend off a recurrence -- for a price.

In what could be likened to one-stop shopping, patients can buy cancer medicine not paid for by their provincial governments, and in some cases, receive financial assistance. Medication will be administered by a nurse, under a doctor's supervision, in one of 18 infusion clinics across Canada.

The drugs don't come cheap: Price tags range from $22,000 to $40,000 for a course of therapy, depending on the medicine. A financial-assistance program can mean a discount as long as patients subject themselves to a means test...

The inability of the public system to cover the drugs comes as a surprise to cancer patients, who have long believed Canada's health-care system is based on the principle of equal access. But equality has never been the case when it comes to drugs, a vexing reality that often unfolds in the oncologist's office.

That is creating two types of cancer patients: those who can afford the best treatment and those who cannot -- what many would construe as two-tier care.

While the problem resides largely in a lack of both uniformity and consistent drug evaluation at the provincial level, the most obvious solution plainly lies at the federal level. A national pharmacare plan would both result in improved buying power to drive down the costs of the treatments which provinces now deem too expensive, and ensure that Canadians' access to prescription drugs isn't limited either by where they live, and how much they can afford.

Unfortunately, the Cons have shown absolutely no interest in such a move, even with all provinces onside. And even with the lone direct provincial challenger to equal access to health care removed from his post, it looks all too likely that PMS and the provinces will continue to allow equality to erode rather than taking readily-available steps to improve the situation.