The bank Quarterly (Volume 85, Number 3, 2007) reports that there are many similarities between Canadian drug coverage and that of the United States. The study looked at Quebec's Prescription Drug Insurance Program and the United States Medicare Prescription Drug Improvement and Modernization ACT (MMA) and it suggested that the older Canadian plan could provide valuable information for American decision makers to investigate.

The study found that factors leading to the adoption of Quebec's drug policy in 1997, and of the MMA in 2003, found that both programs were created in response to popular discontent, pressure from the pharmaceutical industry, and the government's determination to mark a place in history -- both sharing a goal of expanding prescription drug benefits to a greater part of the population, while controlling costs.

In Canada, Marie-Pascale Pomey of the University of Montreal led the study that looked at some of the challenges that have faced the Quebec plan for the past ten years, which include the complexity of the regime, the heavy burden of users' contributions, and the lack of a comprehensive pharmaceutical policy. The MMA has also experienced some of these problems. In Canada, efforts to solve these problems, like streamlining the various sources of financing, adjusting terms of coverage to remove access barriers to the poor, and creating innovative policies to regulate drug prices may prove helpful to American policy-makers. Pomey said that with all that has been achieved, working together with cross-national policy learning, may be a tool to help both programs move ahead, so that Quebecers and Americans can enjoy the positive health benefits of prescription drug programs that balance the goals of equitable access, a healthy and innovative pharmaceutical industry, and cost containment.

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