3 minute read
The 2021 Medication Access Report , released Tuesday by U.S. software company CoverMyMeds , found 36 per cent of people passed on their prescription medication in order to pay bills and other basic needs. The daunting decision also went in the other direction, with 43 per cent bailing on pressing expenses in order to obtain their vital medication. Forty-one per cent of patients said they have stretched out their doses — or skipped some altogether — to make medication last longer.
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Cost was a barrier to prescription medication long before COVID-19 reached Canada’s shores, of course, with a 2016 survey finding that out-of-pocket expenses lead many patients to forgo prescriptions, use more health care services than would otherwise be necessary and neglect basic needs to afford medication.
Many people were at their breaking point prior to the pandemic and the ensuing crisis has flooded food banks across the country. The 2020 Who’s Hungry report — a survey profiling the experiences of the food insecure — found that visits to food banks spiked by 58 per cent last summer as COVID-19 wreaked havoc on the country. Fifty-six per cent of visitors said they could not afford both food and rent. Black and Indigenous households reported food insecurity at disproportionately high levels of 28.9 per cent and 28.2 per cent, respectively.
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“This report demonstrates the need for robust public polices to ensure a sufficient income floor so that all people can afford both food and adequate housing,” wrote Neil Hetherington, CEO of Daily Bread Food Bank, and Ryan Noble, executive director of North York Harvest in an optimistic foreword to the report. “As we look to recovery, we can listen to people experiencing poverty who have been, and continue to be, calling for a fairer society where everyone can thrive. We can make employment a pathway out of poverty. We can achieve affordable housing for all. We can eliminate deep poverty.
Dave Yasvinski is a writer with Healthing.ca
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