ONTARIO’S SHOCKING RECORD ON CANCER TREATMENT ACCESS

Ontario ranks 9th out of 10 provinces in providing cancer patient’s access to new intravenous cancer drugs that can save their lives. In Ontario, only 4 from a list of 24 newer cancer drugs are fully covered for all citizens, compared to 20 of them fully covered in BC (See Chart A). Ten other cancer drugs are only provided in Ontario if the patient satisfies 31 different restrictions on eligibility or pays for the drug. Ontario cancer patients face more restrictions to access their drugs than anywhere else in the country. We believe that Ontario can and should be on par with BC for cancer treatments. Chart A: The picture isn’t any better when it comes to access to medical diagnostic imaging tools, so vital to better detection and diagnosis of cancer. Quebec leads the nation in funding 209 scans per 100,000 population per year; Ontario is at the absolute bottom, funding only 6 scans per 100,000 population per year. Yet Ontario is second in the country in the number of scanning facilities, with 5 facilities compared to Quebec, the leader with 7 facilities. The table below shows the record for all 10 provinces: Province Funded scans per 100,000 population per year Quebec 209 Alberta 178 Manitoba 77 BC 47 New Brunswick 40 Saskatchewan 15 PEI 15 Newfoundland 10 Nova Scotia 6.5 Ontario 6 How serious is the problem? In Ontario, it is estimated that in 2007 there will be 59,500 new cases. On September 11, 2006, Ontario Minister of Health George Smitherman, in a speech to the Economic Club of Toronto, said, “We need to fight for the right of all citizens to get the health care they need, when and where they need it, regardless of how much money they have in their pocket. Because that is our birthright, and we care about it.” Why, then, should an Ontario resident not be able to get the same level of access to newer life-saving drug therapies, as someone who lives in BC? Why should an Ontario resident not be able to get the same level of access to PET scans as someone who lives in Quebec?

Facts and statistics from Report Card on Cancer in Canada, 2006; Cancer Advocacy Coalition of Canada Cancer Statistics 2007; Canadian Cancer Society