Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
I want to thank the witnesses for getting up early and being with us, as everyone says.
I want to move along this line of questioning about costs versus quality. I believe, Heather, you said that you had been an MP, so you were sort of in that situation that we see ourselves in. We talked about the concern about balance, getting the best outcome for a limited budget and the best return on investment. I guess that's okay, as long as you're not the person who needs the innovative medicine.
You mentioned melanoma. I think to myself, what if I was a New Zealand citizen who had paid for my whole life into this system for pharmaceuticals, but when the day came that I needed an innovative drug, I couldn't get it? In Canada, we have a very vibrant private sector insurance industry. We have vibrant generics and name brand industries.
Do you have any data on people who can't get these innovative drugs? Have you ever had a lawsuit? As I was saying, if I'm part of society down there and I've paid for this entire system my entire life, and then some bureaucrat makes a ruling that I can't have that drug, what do I do if I'm a New Zealand citizen and I need treatment?