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Just read this article and find it pretty interesting. Annual prescription drug expenditures are rising at a phenomenal rate, and passed the total National Defence budget a few years ago. This means that a typical Canadian has more of his/her money directed toward drugs then they do defence and foreign aid combined. Now I do support health care in this country, but have we gone too far?
Drug bills rising: report
TORONTO (CP) - The amount Canadians spend on drugs is on the rise, with the tab for 2004 expected to reach $21.8 billion, an increase of 8.8 per cent over the previous year and five times the amount spent on drugs in 1985, a report released Tuesday shows.
Total drug expenditure per person in Canada for last year was expected to reach $681, said the report by the Canadian Institute for Health Information. Final numbers for 2003-04 are still being tallied.
The 1985-2004 report, entitled Drug Expenditure in Canada, indicated that prescribed drugs continue to be the main source of drug spending; prescription drug spending was expected to reach $18 billion for 2004, up 10.2 per cent from 2003.
Prescription drugs were projected to account for 82.5 per cent of total drug spending in Canada, up from 80.5 per cent in 2002 and 67.5 per cent in 1985.
Non-prescription drug spending was to reach $3.8 billion in 2004, a 2.7 per cent increase.
"Increased utilization, ongoing substitution of newer for older drugs and changes in the way health care is delivered - these are all factors that influence the annual increase in the national drug bill," Steve Morgan of the University of British Columbia, an institute adviser, said in a release.
"When examining this increase in drug spending, it becomes quite clear that we have a need to know more about the consequences of our national investment in this form of health-care delivery."
The Canadian Institute for Health Information is an independent, non-profit organization working to improve the health of Canadians and the health-care system through health information.
Drug bills rising: report
TORONTO (CP) - The amount Canadians spend on drugs is on the rise, with the tab for 2004 expected to reach $21.8 billion, an increase of 8.8 per cent over the previous year and five times the amount spent on drugs in 1985, a report released Tuesday shows.
Total drug expenditure per person in Canada for last year was expected to reach $681, said the report by the Canadian Institute for Health Information. Final numbers for 2003-04 are still being tallied.
The 1985-2004 report, entitled Drug Expenditure in Canada, indicated that prescribed drugs continue to be the main source of drug spending; prescription drug spending was expected to reach $18 billion for 2004, up 10.2 per cent from 2003.
Prescription drugs were projected to account for 82.5 per cent of total drug spending in Canada, up from 80.5 per cent in 2002 and 67.5 per cent in 1985.
Non-prescription drug spending was to reach $3.8 billion in 2004, a 2.7 per cent increase.
"Increased utilization, ongoing substitution of newer for older drugs and changes in the way health care is delivered - these are all factors that influence the annual increase in the national drug bill," Steve Morgan of the University of British Columbia, an institute adviser, said in a release.
"When examining this increase in drug spending, it becomes quite clear that we have a need to know more about the consequences of our national investment in this form of health-care delivery."
The Canadian Institute for Health Information is an independent, non-profit organization working to improve the health of Canadians and the health-care system through health information.