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September 15, 2008 | EST. READ TIME 1 MIN.

Cost Burden of Prescription Drug Spending in Canada and the United States, 2008 Edition

There is a common misconception that American prices for prescription medications are excessive because they are often higher than prices in Canada. This leads some people to suggest that the overall cost burden of prescription drug spending in the United States is unfair. However, the fact is that the relative burden of prescription drug spending is roughly equivalent in both countries. This is partly explained by the fact that many drugs, generics in particular, are significantly more expensive in Canada than they are in the United States. On balance, between the higher prices paid for brand-name drugs and the much lower prices paid for generic drugs in the US, Americans spend about the same percentage of their incomes on prescription drugs as Canadians.

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Brett J. Skinner

Brett J. Skinner Dr. Brett J. Skinner was the Fraser Institutes Director of Health Policy Research (2004 to 2012) and
was 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.
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Mark Rovere