Study
| EST. READ TIME 1 MIN.Average Personal Affordability of Prescription Drug Spending in Canada and the United States 2011
The findings of this study suggest that, on average, greater government intervention in Canada?s drug markets has not provided more affordable access to prescription drugs relative to a less interventionist policy in the United States.
Much of Canadian prescription drug policy is based on the assumption that without government intervention, the market will fail to achieve certain socially desirable outcomes, one of which is affordable access to prescription drugs. This assumption is the basis for justifying policies like price regulation, direct public provision of drug insurance, or government imposed restrictions on consumer choice through policies like mandated therapeutic substitution.
The findings of this study suggest that, on average, greater government intervention in Canada?s drug markets has not provided more affordable access to prescription drugs relative to a less interventionist policy in the United States. Further, this study notes that if other indirect factors are taken into account, there are probably net socio-economic costs associated with government intervention.
-
Brett J. Skinner
Brett J. Skinner Dr. Brett J. Skinner was the Fraser Institutes Director of Health Policy Research (2004 to 2012) andwas also the Institutes President and CEO (2010 and 2012). Dr. Skinner has a B.A. from the University of Windsor, an M.A. through joint studies between the University of Windsor and Wayne State University in Detroit (Michigan), and a Ph.D. from the University of Western Ontario, where he has lectured in both the Faculty of Health Sciences and the Department of Political Science. Dr. Skinner has authored or co-authored approximately 50 major original pieces of applied economics and public policy research. In 2003 he was a co-winner of the Atlas Economic Research Foundations Sir Antony Fisher Memorial Award for innovative projects in public policy. Dr. Skinners book, Canadian Health Policy Failures: Whats wrong? Who gets hurt? Why nothing changes, was a finalist for Atlas 2009 Fisher book prize. His research has been published through several think-tanks including the Fraser Institute (Vancouver), the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies (Halifax), the Pacific Research Institute (San Francisco), the American Enterprise Institute (Washington, D.C.) and the Israel National Institute for Health Policy Research (Israel). His work has also been published in several academic journals including Economic Affairs, Pharmacoeconomics and Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics. Dr. Skinner appears and is cited frequently as an expert in the Canadian, American, and global media. He has presented his research at conferences and events around the world, including testifying before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Health in Ottawa, and briefing bi-partisan Congressional policy staff at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.… Read more -
Mark Rovere