Healthcare in Canada and UK

[Ebenezer68]

Do the citizens of the UK and Canada have to pay for there CLL medications and treatments if so about how much for the pills.

[Newdawn Administrator]

CLL Medications are free on the U.K. NHS to all eligible citizens. They’re paid for indirectly by our taxes and National Insurance payments. A Canadian member will need to describe the system there.

Newdawn

[ikahan]

In Canada, many cancer medications are covered by the provincial government for everyone. But if you have cancer is very hard to get on any of the newst medications that are available in US. The Canadian system is far from perfect .A government committee determines which medications are covered. Cost and cost-effectiveness are major consideration in granting approval, and there are often inexplicably long delays in granting coverage. For example, despite overwhelming evidence of benefit, ibrutinib was not covered in Ontario for unmutated CLL as a first treatment until 2018. I had to go to the US and participate in a clinical trial for which I had to pay myself to get ibrutinib. When the trial was completed I had to discontinue ibrutinib because the retail cost was prohibitive. When I relapsed in 2020, my oncologist has recommended that I go on acalabrutinib rather than ibrutinib, because I have heart disease. Fortunately I was able to receive acalabrutinib under a compassionate release program, paid for by AstraZeneca.

I hope that the provincial government will eventually cover acalabrutinib. IN the meantime, these delays have caused hardship to patients.

[70s-80s-overlander in reply to ikahan]

It is good to hear that you are "doing what you've got to do". The last time I saw an article discussing the issue, a 5-year time-lag was noted between when a med was marketed in the US & when it was marketed in Canada. Oddly enough, it appeared that the time-lag was fairly uniform across all med groups.

[ikahan in reply to 70s-80s-overlander]

Overlander, we personally know of quite a few CLL canadian patients that have had to go to US and pay themselves for clinical trials in order to be able to take advantage of the newer CLL treatments

[Emgeegee]

I live in Saskatchewan, a province in western Canada, and my ibrutinib is fully paid for by the provincial health plan (no direct cost to me). While “in hospital” cancer drugs are covered in every province (to my knowledge), “take home” cancer drugs are only completely covered in some provinces (currently all 4 western provinces, I believe, and there may be some others). I was diagnosed in 2017 and am unmutated with 13q deletion and when treatment was recommended in 2020, ibrutinib was the recommended first line treatment. I am grateful not to have to worry about paying for it (except indirectly via taxes!) and it is working well for me with a few manageable side effects.

[Jackpot in reply to Emgeegee]

Go Riders!

[Northland]

I live in Ontario Canada, retired at 61 years old and was diagnosed almost 3 years ago and have been on Imbruvica for 16 months. The Ontario Trillium Drug Benefit covers the majority of my medication cost ($8900 per month) but requires people to pay a deductible based on family income. My deductible was $4500 annually but Janssen graciously has committed to paying the deductible as long as I am on their medication.

So far so good as the meds gave me much of my energy back with nominal side effects.

[bennevisplace]

Just to add that in the UK most people pay an at-counter charge of £9.35 for each item of prescribed medicines. This can add up!

Those over 60, under 16 or under 18 in full-time education, in or post pregnancy, or living in N Ireland, Wales or Scotland, are exempt from prescription charges. So is anyone with a chronic illness.

Medicines etc included in hospital treatment are completely free of charge. I've had my CLL treatment, first one anyway, but still take 17 prescribed pills each day. It's one reason not to emigrate.

[Hidden in reply to bennevisplace]

Someone with cancer in the UK does not pay fir prescriptions for any conditions they have:

People with certain medical conditions can get free NHS prescriptions.

Medical exemption certificates are credit-card-size cards. They are issued if you have:

cancer, including the effects of cancer or the effects of current or previous cancer treatment

[marcyh]

Cost for Rx meds in Canada also depends somewhat on your employment benefits and who your insurer was. Also, my cardiologist advocated for me on the provincial level for an anticoagulant to be fully covered so that is another possibility. But I concur, healthcare here is far from perfect here - and far from free for that matter - with long waits for meds and treatment. Some don't survive.

[Vizilo]

I live in Ontario and my immunoglobulin has been provided for free for almost 2 years, first as monthly IVIG infusions at the hospitals then weekly SCIG at home. Eligibility seems to depend more on getting a serious infection rather than on the level of IGG