Without a universal prescription drug plan, coverage in Canada vastly differs depending on where you live. Regionally, Atlantic Canada has among the lowest rates of access to prescription medications in the country. In Newfoundland, even publicly-funded programs require dispensing fees or co-payments, which have proven to reduce access.
26 percent of Atlantic Canadian households don’t take their medications as prescribed because they can’t afford to.
Public spending in Newfoundland and Labrador covers less than half the cost of prescription medicine.
Of the 224,100 in the province working either full or part-time, an estimated one in three – 80,676 – don’t have health benefits.
In Canada, only 27 percent of part-time workers have prescription drug coverage.This means that in 2017, about three quarters of Newfoundland and Labrador’s 33,200 part-time workers did not have prescription drug coverage.
The province’s 65Plus Plan for low-income seniors charges a $6 dispensing fee on prescriptions.
The Access Plan for low-income residents requires co-payments ranging from 20 to 70 percent of total prescription costs, depending on annual income.
This patchwork coverage leaves many Newfoundlanders without access to the medication they need, either because they don’t have a prescription drug plan or have plans that don’t cover the cost.