scholarly journals Universal Pharmacare in Canada: A Prescription for Equity in Healthcare

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 91-95
Author(s):  
Mohammad Hajizadeh ◽  
Sterling Edmonds
Keyword(s):  
Healthcare System ◽  
Prescription Drugs ◽  
Social Inequalities ◽  
Insurance Coverage ◽  
Universal Coverage ◽  
Pharmaceutical Products ◽  
Drug Coverage ◽  
Publicly Funded ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Out Of Pocket Expenses

Despite progressive universal drug coverage and pharmaceutical policies found in other countries, Canada remains the only developed nation with a publicly funded healthcare system that does not include universal coverage for prescription drugs. In the absence of a national pharmacare plan, a province may choose to cover a specific sub-population for certain drugs. Although different provinces have individually attempted to extend coverage to certain subpopulations within their jurisdictions, out-of-pocket expenses on drugs and pharmaceutical products (OPEDP) accounts for a large proportion of out-of-pocket health expenses (OPHE) that are catastrophic in nature. Pharmaceutical drug coverage is a major source of public scrutiny among politicians and policy-makers in Canada. In this editorial, we focus on social inequalities in the burden of OPEDP in Canada. Prescription drugs are inconsistently covered under patchworks of public insurance coverage, and this inconsistency represents a major source of inequity of healthcare financing. Residents of certain provinces, rural households and Canadians from poorer households are more likely to be affected by this inequity and suffer disproportionately higher proportions of catastrophic out-of-pocket expenses on drugs and pharmaceutical products (COPEDP). Universal pharmacare would reduce COPEDP and promote a more equitable healthcare system in Canada.

Japanese healthcare system: in vitro diagnostic tests and reimbursements

1994 ◽  
Vol 40 (8) ◽  
pp. 1663-1667 ◽  
Author(s):  
A Shimauchi
Keyword(s):  
Healthcare System ◽  
Prescription Drugs ◽  
Diagnostic Tests ◽  
Diagnostic Testing ◽  
Universal Coverage ◽  
Medical Expenditures ◽  
National Medical ◽  
Dental Procedures ◽  
In Vitro Diagnostic

Abstract In 1961, a new and mandatory National Health Insurance plan was enacted in Japan. This healthcare system has succeeded in providing universal coverage while also containing the growth of national medical expenditures (NME) to the rate of growth of the gross national product (GNP), namely, approximately 4-5% annually, for several decades. All Japanese medical procedures, including dental procedures, prescription drugs, and diagnostic tests, are reimbursed by a fee schedule set by the Ministry of Health and Welfare. The combination of strict fee control and low administration costs has kept the Japanese NME growth below that of the GNP. In 1990, NME was 20.6 trillion yen ($187 billion), total diagnostic testing expenditures (DTE) were 2.3 trillion yen, representing 11.2% of national medical expenditures (NME). Of this amount, in vitro diagnostic testing accounted for 1.4 trillion yen, representing 61% of DTE and 6.8% of NME. Annually, 1.8 billion in vitro diagnostic tests are performed.

Exploring Prescription Drug Coverage and Drug Use for Older Americans

2002 ◽  
Vol 36 (11) ◽  
pp. 1704-1711 ◽  
Author(s):  
David A Mott ◽  
Jon C Schommer
Keyword(s):  
Drug Use ◽  
Prescription Drug ◽  
Prescription Drugs ◽  
Older Persons ◽  
Insurance Coverage ◽  
Drug Coverage ◽  
Prescription Drug Coverage ◽  
Older Americans ◽  
Drug Insurance ◽  
Prescription Drug Insurance

OBJECTIVE: To describe existing prescription drug insurance coverage for older Americans, to describe out-of-pocket payment levels per prescription associated with service benefit prescription drug plans used by older persons, and to examine the association of prescription drug coverage types with the reported use of prescription drugs by older persons. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Data were obtained from a national survey of 1570 community-dwelling older persons (≥65 y) conducted in June 1998. A 2-part utilization model was estimated using logistic regression and ordinary least-squares regression. RESULTS: Data from 310 respondents were used for analysis. Overall, 66.1% of respondents reported having prescription drug insurance coverage. A majority (76.6%) of respondents having private drug coverage reported having a service benefit plan (requiring copayment or coinsurance amount to be paid for each prescription). The median copayment per brand name and generic prescription for persons reporting having coverage by service benefit plans was $10 and $5, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, a majority of older persons reported paying relatively small amounts out-of-pocket per prescription during 1998. Among persons who reported having drug insurance coverage, there were no statistically significant differences in the reported number of drugs used daily, regardless of out-of-pocket payment amount per prescription. Patient need and level of past drug use were significantly associated with both the likelihood of using any prescription drugs and the level of use among users. More research is needed to examine differences in drug expenditures and characteristics of drugs used across prescription drug insurance types for older persons.

scholarly journals It Won’t Be Easy: How to Make Universal Pharmacare Work in Canada

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-5
Author(s):  
Steven Lewis
Keyword(s):  
Healthcare System ◽  
Prescription Drugs ◽  
Universal Coverage ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Pharmaceutical Policy ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Federal Level ◽  
Universal Healthcare ◽  
The Status ◽  
Universal Healthcare System

One of the glaring gaps in Canada’s universal healthcare system is the low level of public financing of prescription drugs - 42.7% of total spending in 2018. At the federal level there is renewed interest in moving towards universal coverage, supported by a recently commissioned report on how to achieve it. It will take superb political navigation to extract Canadian pharmaceutical policy and practice from the grasp of interests that profit handsomely from the status quo. This perspective suggests the conditions under which a genuinely fair, effective, and efficient pharmacare plan can emerge.

scholarly journals Quantity and quality of childcare and children’s educational outcomes

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jo Blanden ◽  
Emilia Del Bono ◽  
Kirstine Hansen ◽  
Birgitta Rabe
Keyword(s):  
School Achievement ◽  
Additional Term ◽  
Publicly Funded ◽  
Highly Qualified ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Quality Rating ◽  
Quality Of Childcare ◽  
The Impact ◽  
School Records

AbstractPolicy-makers wanting to support child development can choose to adjust the quantity or quality of publicly funded universal pre-school. To assess the impact of such changes, we estimate the effects of an increase in free pre-school education in England of about 3.5 months at age 3 on children’s school achievement at age 5. We exploit date-of-birth discontinuities that create variation in the length and starting age of free pre-school using administrative school records linked to nursery characteristics. Estimated effects are small overall, but the impact of the additional term is substantially larger in settings with the highest inspection quality rating but not in settings with highly qualified staff. Estimated effects fade out by age 7.

Fake Pharmaceuticals: How They and Relevant Legislation or Lack Thereof Contribute to Consistently High and Increasing Drug Prices

2003 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 525-542
Author(s):  
Merri C. Moken
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Prescription Drugs ◽  
The United States ◽  
Pharmaceutical Products ◽  
New Drugs ◽  
Pharmaceutical Companies ◽  
Brand Name ◽  
Potential Factors ◽  
Counterfeit Pharmaceuticals ◽  
New Applications

The use of pharmaceutical products in the United States has increased more than the use of any other health resource from 1960 to 1990. In excess of 9,600 drugs were on the market in 1984, and the Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) approves approximately 30 new drugs and countless new applications for alterations of already existing drugs each year. In 2001, the $300 billion pharmaceutical industry sold $154 billion worth of prescription drugs in the United States alone, nearly doubling its $78.9 billion in sales in 1997. With such a rapid increase in market domination and expenditures, the U.S. government and many hospitals have focused their attention on the sales and pricing practices of pharmaceutical companies, as well as other potential factors contributing to these escalating prices. One such cause of the steadily increasing prices of brand name pharmaceuticals is the sale of fake or counterfeit pharmaceuticals (also called “look-alike” drugs).

scholarly journals Influence of immigration on prematurity in the context of a free healthcare system with universal coverage.

2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ernesto Cortés ◽  
María Mercedes Rizo-Baeza ◽  
Antonio Palazón-Bru ◽  
María José Aguilar-Cordero ◽  
Vicente Francisco Gil-Guillén
Keyword(s):  
Healthcare System ◽  
Universal Coverage ◽  
Free Healthcare

Electronic Waste and Environmental Justice

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
David N. Pellow
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Environmental Justice ◽  
Digital Media ◽  
Social Inequalities ◽  
Electronic Waste ◽  
Dynamic Changes ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Waste Production

This chapter offers a review of the interdisciplinary literatures on electronic waste (e-waste) from an environmental justice perspective. Specifically, the author explores how e-waste reflects dynamic changes in the ways that the materiality of digital media intersects with ecological concerns and social inequalities. The author draws on several examples of e-waste production, reuse, recycling, and export around the globe as illustrations of these tensions. The author also discusses the ways that grassroots social movements and policy makers have responded to this crisis. Finally, the chapter considers a number of debates about the changing character of environmental justice struggles in the e-waste industry and workplaces.

Lessons from Thailand: universal healthcare achievements and challenges

2018 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 387-401
Author(s):  
Ravikan Nonkhuntod ◽  
Suchuan Yu
Keyword(s):  
Healthcare System ◽  
Healthcare Utilization ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Selection Criterion ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Universal Healthcare ◽  
Positive Effect ◽  
Small Positive Effect

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to discuss the successes of Thailand’s healthcare system along with challenges it is facing, examining documents and policies used by those charged with developing and implementing health services. Design/methodology/approach The search pool comprised PubMed and Google Scholar from the period 2001-2015. Selection criterion for inclusion was sources dealing with out-of-pocket (OOP) expenditure and healthcare utilization in Thailand. In total, 33 studies met the criterion of containing sufficient data to be included in the meta-analysis. Findings The authors found a small positive effect size on OOP expenditure and healthcare utilization, obtaining values of 0.1604 (95% CI 0.1320-0.1888, p<0.0001) and 0.2788 (95% CI 0.0917-0.4659, p=0.0035), respectively. Originality/value To review and meta-analyze the literature dealing with the outcomes of Thailand’s healthcare system to understand whether Thailand’s healthcare system is achieving its mandate or not. The results of this paper can help policy makers to understand and evaluate Thailand’s healthcare system.

scholarly journals Vision Payment Claims Analyses with Health Insurance

CommonHealth ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 85-93
Author(s):  
Aaron Houston MPH ◽  
Joseph Ruskiwewicz ◽  
John Gaal MHA ◽  
Chaitali Baviskar MHSA ◽  
Atiya Latimer
Keyword(s):  
Insurance Coverage ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
Cross Sectional Study ◽  
Institutional Review Boards ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Data Analyses ◽  
Insurance Type ◽  
Institutional Review ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
Out Of Pocket Expenses

 The purpose of  this study was to identify associations between insurance type and costs and to investigate specified variables’ influence on individuals’ access to adequate coverage. This was a cross sectional study, using secondary data analyses. The study was completed at The Eye Institute (TEI) East Oak Lane Campus in Philadelphia, PA. The study population was all patients seen at TEI East Oak Lane Campus, specifically patients seen at TEI clinic from January 1st, 2019, - to December 31st, 2019, whose encounter generated an insurance claim (n=68,484). The exposure was insurance type and outcomes were patient total amount, billed amount, and pay amount by patient. Data analyses were performed using SAS, version 9.4. In all statistical analyses, p-values were one-sided and considered statistically significant if 0.05 or lower. The study protocol was approved by the Institutional Review Boards of Salus University. The sample represented an older population with an average age of about 55. There was a significant association found between financial class with patient total amount (p<0.0001), billed amount(p<0.0001), and pay amount (p<0.0001). People with managed PPO pay the least, while those on Medicaid and workers compensation pay the most out of pocket. The two Philadelphia zip codes which pay the most out of pocket have two of the lowest average household incomes in the Greater Philadelphia area. Insurance type and out of pocket expenses potentially have a negative effect on patient vision health and affordability of care as well as access to care. These findings contribute to the identification of variables that influence individual’s healthcare accessibility and evidence for opportunities to improve insurance coverage.            

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document