Why not June?

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 14/09/2011 (5170 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

THE NDP government’s announcement this week to cover 100 per cent of the costs of cancer drugs, tablets for cancer therapy and to battle the side-effects of treatment makes eminent, compassionate sense and saves money spent on expensive hospital care. It could have been announced earlier this year, by a government able then to set the wheels in motion for some patients who carry that financial burden themselves.

In June, it was announced that Manitoba would be moving to speed along the “cancer journey” for people suspected of having the disease. About 6,500 Manitobans are diagnosed with cancer each year, but up to 10 times that number are suspected cases. CancerCare Manitoba’s plan would co-ordinate family physician, diagnostics, pathology and treatment better, so patients learn within two months if they have cancer and begin treatment.

On Monday, NDP leader Greg Selinger announced that 34 expensive cancer drugs, now on the provincial formulary, will be paid for by the province, should the NDP return to government. Some of these drugs cost $50,000 a year and those without a private insurance plan pay Pharmacare’s deductible. These drugs, in tablet form, can be taken at home. A few, however, are available in hospital by intravenous, and so some patients without private insurance choose that route to escape the cost.

CancerCare Manitoba expects that up to $400,000 would be saved every year in delivery of these drugs. The broader benefit is to those who don’t have private insurance and are taking drugs that cannot be delivered by intravenous. They might have heard in June that the burden would be relieved, but then that would have meant one less NDP promise to make in the election campaign.