Posted by Michael Wonder on 18 Mar 2019
The impact of pharmaceutical rebates on patients’ drug expenditures
18 March 2019 - The drug-pricing landscape in Canada is complex, with 4 different agencies and each provincial, territorial and federal drug plan involved.
Rebates, which are a form of price negotiation between the government and pharmaceutical manufacturers, commonly involve the government and patient paying the list price at the point of dispensation, with the rebate returning to the government’s general revenue as a lump-sum payment within a specified time frame.
The cost to patients when price negotiations are done through rebates (rather than from a transparent reduction in the list price) could be higher than the actual cost of the drug, depending on the patient’s income, the drugs insured and the plan structure.
