Thank you very much.
I want to thank the witnesses for being here. I think I'd love to have a little more time with you as well, because I think some of the things you've already said opened my eyes.
I think, Mostafa, you were saying the savings should be the main reason for doing it. We've heard already that people are making all kinds of assumptions. What I'd like to get to is whether can we get a model that we want so that we can give proper direction. Can we define what the problem is?
One of the interesting comments we had was from Neil Palmer, who is the president of PDCI. He was saying there is insufficient data on the numbers of Canadians who either lack prescription drug coverage or have insufficient drug coverage, which undermines the ability to develop policy in this area. I think what we need to do is take a snapshot of what is going on here.
He said:
Figures of 10% to 20% with no coverage or inadequate coverage are frequently cited. However, the underlying data supporting these figures is weak and generally based on unreliable opinion surveys.
That's true.
He continued:
That 10% to 20% could be underestimate or an overestimate. Either way, we need to know. We need to know because it's not possible to make informed policy recommendations and decisions when there is such uncertainty.
With us giving you direction, I think what we have to do is take a look at where we are right now. I think you have two slides, Carleigh, that opened my eyes. One was slide number 4, which showed $16.6 billion in private spending on drugs. The other one was slide 9, where you're talking about parameters.
Do you guys have any insight on which Canadians are have coverage now? For those without coverage, what percentage are low-income Canadians who may be having problems affording drug coverage? For those without coverage, which percentage is higher? Is it a problem not to be having some type of private insurance for these people? I'd like to see what we can do to dig down and define the problem today.
Do you guys have any idea about what the problem is we're asking you to help us solve?