[Ip-health] Drug Expenditure in Canada

[robert weissman]

*Drug Expenditure in Canada 1985 to 2005  *

*/Drug spending reaches almost $25 billion in 2005
/*/Significant variation in public drug spending across the provinces/

*The Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI), May 10, 2006*

Available online at:
http://secure.cihi.ca/cihiweb/dispPage.jsp?cw_page=3DPG_570_E&cw_topic=3D57=
0&cw_rel=3DAR_80_E#full

<http://secure.cihi.ca/cihiweb/dispPage.jsp?cw_page=3DPG_570_E&cw_topic=3D5=
70&cw_rel=3DAR_80_E#full>



CIHI's annual drug expenditure trends publication and provides updated
information on drug expenditure in Canada. This publication includes:

=B7         National drug expenditure;

=B7         Provincial and territorial drug expenditure;

=B7         International comparisons; and

=B7         Factors that may affect drug expenditure.

The report also includes an analysis of drug expenditure in Canadian
hospitals as reported in the Canadian MIS Database (CMDB), maintained by
CIHI.

//=93=85..Drug Expenditure in Canada, 1985 to 2005// shows that prescribed
drugs continue to account for the vast majority of drug spending in
Canada. In 2005, the estimated spending on prescribed drugs was $20.6
billion, which is just over 83% of total drug spending. This represents
an increase of 11.5% over the previous year. Comparatively, expenditure
on non-prescribed drugs is projected to have reached $4.2 billion in
2005, representing an increase of 8.9%.

Drugs continue to be the fastest-growing category of health care
spending, with drug spending estimated to have reached 17.5% of total
health expenditure in 2005, almost double the 9.5% reported in 1985.
Since 1997, drugs have accounted for the second-largest share after
hospitals, among major categories of health spending.


         *International comparisons show Canadian public drug spending
         below median*

When comparing countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation
and Development (OECD) with a similar health reporting system to
Canada=92s, in 2003 Korea spent the highest proportion of total health
expenditure on drugs (28.8%), and Norway reported the lowest (9.4%).
Canada was in the middle, at 16.9%.

When comparing the same 13 OECD countries, Canada was far below the
median when it came to how much of the total drug bill was publicly
financed. At 38.1%, only the United States (21.2%) and Mexico (11.3%)
reported a lower public share than Canada did. Germany had the highest
public drug expenditure as a percentage of total drug expenditure, at
74.8%.....: