Ford Conservatives vote to deny families access to take-home cancer medication

QUEEN’S PARK — On Wednesday evening, the Ford Conservatives voted down an NDP motion to give cancer patients coverage for their take-home cancer medications.

“A cancer diagnosis is one of the scariest things anyone can face — it turns lives upside down,” said Horwath. “People fighting cancer deserve a government that has their back — and we can do that. We can make the lives of those battling this horrible disease just a little easier, and more affordable.”

Like all hospital visits, cancer treatments performed in hospital are covered by OHIP. But more and more commonly, modern cancer treatments can be taken at home in pill form. The cost of that is not covered by OHIP. For people between the ages of 25 and 65 who don’t have a drug benefit plan, the cost can make those prescription treatments painful, or impossible, to afford.

After sharing stories in the legislature of people whose cancer treatment was delayed while they figured out how to pay for it, and people who were forced to choose hospital-based care instead, Horwath said she’s disgusted by the Ford Conservatives’ arguments against her motion.

“We just can’t fund everything,” said Conservative MPP Ross Romano of the pills that cancer patients need, comparing them to kids’ toys. “Hey, I would love to try. Again, I’ve got three kids at home. When I go to the store with my kids, they say, ‘Daddy, I want that and I want that.’ Well, I’ve got three kids, so if I buy one kid the Captain America figurine, I’ve got to have to buy all three of them one. In my house, I’ve got to buy one Captain America, one Iron Man and one Incredible Hulk.”

Later in the debate, the Conservative Romano admonished the NDP for wanting to prioritize the drugs cancer patients need. “Someone has to be the adult in the room,” Romano said. “And someone has to play the parent once in a while and say, ‘Sorry. You can’t have everything. You just can’t.’ That’s the world we live in.”

Horwath said making cancer treatments affordable for all patients facing a diagnosis should be a priority.

“It doesn’t need to be this way,” said Horwath. “Ontario can afford to be compassionate. We can afford to give cancer patients more help, more hope and less cost.”

Horwath also noted that covering at-home cancer medications, for those patients whose doctors choose that for them, has the added benefit of being a lower cost than treating patients in hospital, and could help ease hospital crowding and hallway medicine.