Thank you.
Ms. Hanson, Diabetes Canada's submission to this committee's study on universal pharmacare said the following:
Cost barriers are particularly difficult for chronic disease patients: research shows that 23% of people with chronic disease skipped medications due to cost, compared to 10% in the overall population. Similarly, 25% of people with diabetes who responded to a CDA’s survey in 2015 reported that their adherence to therapy was impacted by cost. In 2014, 30% of people with diabetes that responded to a Statistics Canada survey indicated they had no insurance for equipment or supplies to monitor blood glucose, and 15% had no insurance to pay for prescription medications.
I have two questions. Number one, would you favour a universal pharmacare program which ensured that all diabetes patients had universal access to the diagnostics and treatment they need? Number two, can you tell this committee a bit more about the cost-related barriers to treatment and care faced by Canadians living with diabetes?