Health committee  I don't have specific numbers to answer the question of whether paying for the drugs would be cheaper than paying for the complications, but we do have some really interesting evidence in regard to the benefit of universal access. Dr. Gillian Booth from St. Michael's Hospital in

Health committee  Whether by research or by training, I'm never going to argue against the value of having better and more current information. However, I am confident that any study you would do would find that people living with diabetes face significant barriers to accessing their medication, j

Health committee  You began your question with respect to the electronic medical record. I may not have been complete in my remarks under the circumstances, but I suggested that an electronic medical record be implemented by the federal government for health care that is within its jurisdiction an

Health committee  Many of those drugs are not covered, and they're certainly not covered consistently. They'd be listed in some provinces and not in others. When they're not covered by the patient's individual insurance plan or a public plan, they'd need to pay out of pocket. These drugs are frequ

Health committee  Again, I think a recurring refrain from us is patchwork, that private plans also have inconsistent coverage, inconsistent levels of copayment. For instance, people are very vulnerable in making a job change if their current plan covers their devices, supplies, and medications. Th

Health committee  In terms of accessing a new drug treatment, may I ask if you are meaning drugs that most recently come on the market?

Health committee  I would agree with Mr. Keon that, in order to be licensed, the drugs have to be proven to be equivalent. Why a patient's experience might differ, I cannot comment on an individual case. For drugs to be licensed, we do randomized control trials in which hundreds of patients are

Health committee  I am familiar with the notion of listing insulin as a life-saving drug and making it free, but I can't speak to the experience in specific jurisdictions that have done that. Again, insulin is needed every day for someone with type 1 diabetes to avoid a fatal complication called

Health committee  You're correct that the cost of managing type 1 diabetes is often very burdensome. Type 1 accounts for less than 10% of cases in Canada, and almost always onsets at a young age, and families are frequently burdened by these costs. Not only is there that complication, but in a s

Health committee  Yes.

Health committee  I'm not able to put a number to that, but certainly we know that the advances we've seen—66% reduction in heart attacks, 50% reduction in stroke and amputation—are due to the application of evidence-based therapies. We also know that people with diabetes won't take those medicati

Health committee  It would reduce the number of complications, yes.

Health committee  Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you today about a matter that touches us all, access to medicines for all Canadians. I'm the chief science officer at the Canadian Diabetes Association, and I speak to you in that capacity, because having access to medicines is essent