caa a22 4500 606167498 CHVBK 20210128100703.0 cr unu---uuuuu 210128e20150901xx s 000 0 eng 10.1007/s10754-015-9171-3 doi (NATIONALLICENCE)springer-10.1007/s10754-015-9171-3 The financial burden of out of pocket prescription drug expenses in Canada [Elektronische Daten] [Sam Caldbick, Xiaojing Wu, Tom Lynch, Naser Al-Khatib, Mustafa Andkhoie, Marwa Farag] Pharmaceutical expenditures account for approximately 15.9% of total health expenditures in Canada. Unlike hospital and physician services, in which costs are universally covered, most pharmacological therapy does not fall under the umbrella of ‘medically necessary' services set out by the Canada Health Act, and therefore is funded through a mix of public and private plans. Little is known about the actual financial burden experienced by Canadians from out-of-pocket drug expenditures (OOPDE). This paper examines the burden of OOPDE in Canada. 1.1% of Canadian households exceed our catastrophic threshold (9%) of the drug budget share. Additionally, 2.6 and 8.2% of households exceed lower thresholds of 6 and 3% respectively. We find an inverse relationship between household income and the burden of OPPDE. Low-income households have the highest likelihood of being in the ‘catastrophic' drug expenditure category. This finding suggests that a vulnerable population of ‘working poor' are likely to be experiencing disproportionate financial burden because they are not eligible for public assistance programs. Seniors experience the highest burden of OPPDE when compared to other age groups. We also find that there is significant interprovincial variation in the burden of OOPDE, which partly reflects different provincial government drug coverage policies. Springer Science+Business Media New York, 2015 Drug expenses nationallicence Burden of out of pocket expenses nationallicence Provincial differences in drug policies in Canada nationallicence Caldbick Sam School of Public Health, University of Saskatchewan, 104 Clinic Place, S7N 5E5, Saskatoon, SK, Canada aut Wu Xiaojing School of Public Health, University of Saskatchewan, 104 Clinic Place, S7N 5E5, Saskatoon, SK, Canada aut Lynch Tom School of Public Health, University of Saskatchewan, 104 Clinic Place, S7N 5E5, Saskatoon, SK, Canada aut Al-Khatib Naser School of Public Health, University of Saskatchewan, 104 Clinic Place, S7N 5E5, Saskatoon, SK, Canada aut Andkhoie Mustafa School of Public Health, University of Saskatchewan, 104 Clinic Place, S7N 5E5, Saskatoon, SK, Canada aut Farag Marwa School of Public Health, University of Saskatchewan, 104 Clinic Place, S7N 5E5, Saskatoon, SK, Canada aut International Journal of Health Economics and Management Springer US; http://www.springer-ny.com 15/3(2015-09-01), 329-338 2199-9023 15:3<329 2015 15 10754 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10754-015-9171-3 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 Metadata rights reserved Springer special CC-BY-NC licence nationallicence 1 research-article jats NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-springer NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10754-015-9171-3 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Caldbick Sam School of Public Health, University of Saskatchewan, 104 Clinic Place, S7N 5E5, Saskatoon, SK, Canada aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Wu Xiaojing School of Public Health, University of Saskatchewan, 104 Clinic Place, S7N 5E5, Saskatoon, SK, Canada aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Lynch Tom School of Public Health, University of Saskatchewan, 104 Clinic Place, S7N 5E5, Saskatoon, SK, Canada aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Al-Khatib Naser School of Public Health, University of Saskatchewan, 104 Clinic Place, S7N 5E5, Saskatoon, SK, Canada aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Andkhoie Mustafa School of Public Health, University of Saskatchewan, 104 Clinic Place, S7N 5E5, Saskatoon, SK, Canada aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Farag Marwa School of Public Health, University of Saskatchewan, 104 Clinic Place, S7N 5E5, Saskatoon, SK, Canada aut NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- International Journal of Health Economics and Management Springer US; http://www.springer-ny.com 15/3(2015-09-01), 329-338 2199-9023 15:3<329 2015 15 10754