Dear Santa Mr Ghiz,
I’ve been a really good boy this year. I was really good in school. I shared with my little sister and I listened to my mom and dad.
Last year I asked for a video game and I got it so I hope you can give me what I want this year. My mom has MS. She has trouble walking and sometimes she’s in bed when I get home from school. I know her legs hurt a lot but she still helps me get ready for school in the morning. Sometimes she even goes down the stairs on her bum.
I think the doctor told my mom to take a pill to make the pain go away but I heard her tell my dad it was too expensive. I know it’s expensive for me to play hockey, but she never says no to that.
Can my Christmas present be a pill for my mom? If you can’t do it, I’ll tell her I won’t play hockey. I think her pill is more important.
Jeffrey
*Based on true stories from Islanders living with multiple sclerosis.
Unfortunately, this scenario has been a reality for a number of Island families.
More than one in seven families in Prince Edward Island pays over three per cent of its net household income on prescription drugs – a proportion that is 66 per cent greater than for Canada as a whole. Many more families are vulnerable to paying high drug costs. It is estimated that 25 per cent of Islanders, or approximately 36,000 residents of the province, do not have any insurance coverage for prescription drugs.
The MS Society of Canada, as a member of the PEI Health Charities Network is urging the Government of Prince Edward Island to implement a catastrophic drug program so that no family is forced to make decisions like those mentioned in The Jeffrey Letter.
The term ‘catastrophic’ refers to costs of drugs that are high relative to families’ incomes. Today, it is not unusual for patients to have drug costs of more than $5,000 a year. Multiple drugs required to manage chronic diseases can reach thousands of dollars a year even though they each cost only a few dollars a day. Individual therapies that are taken at home to treat diseases such as multiple sclerosis, arthritis or cancer can now cost between $20,000 and $130,000 annually. Many people who have private insurance must pay a contribution of 20 per cent or more and find these expenses difficult to manage. For people without any insurance coverage, the costs are devastating.
Eight out of 10 provinces in Canada support their residents with these costs through catastrophic drug considerations in their prescription drug programs. Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick are the only provinces in Canada that do not have safeguards in place to protect residences from catastrophic drug costs. The Government of New Brunswick has promised to implement such a program. The Government of Prince Edward Island has not.
Prince Edward Islanders with chronic diseases are not universally covered for even a portion of their drug expenses. Patients without private insurance who are not eligible for provincial coverage as seniors, through Family Health Benefits or social assistance may qualify for coverage under one of the High Cost Drug Programs, however this coverage is incomplete.
Only drugs used to treat the primary condition are covered; expenses for drugs to manage symptoms or to treat unrelated chronic diseases are not. For example, MS patients may be covered for part of the cost of targeted disease-modifying drugs; however they must pay the total costs of drugs needed to manage pain (as mentioned in The Jeffrey Letter), spasticity or fatigue. Also, medications to treat an unrelated condition such as hypertension or high blood lipids are also not covered. These treatments can amount to thousands of dollars a year, which may be unaffordable for an MS patient who has had to give up their job due to their condition, or is supporting a young family.
This holiday season, the MS Society of Canada and the PEI Health Charities Network are hoping the Government of Prince Edward Island will take responsibility for the health care of Islanders and consider the future of Island families like Jeffrey’s. A commitment to implement a catastrophic drug program would benefit many more Islanders than simply those who swallow the pills.
Jessesar MacNeil
Director, Government Relations
MS Society of Canada,
Atlantic Division
Member, PEI Health Charities Network

To learn more,
visit www.campaignforcoverage.ca