Ontario needs to put patients first and create a cancer care program that enables all cancer patients to access approved treatments without paperwork, delay, or out-of-pocket costs.

In Ontario, cancer patients under the age of 65 encounter two completely different systems: one to access cancer medications that can be taken at home and another for hospital-administered cancer medications. Major differences between these two systems include:

• The time patients must wait to start urgent, medically-necessary treatment
• Out-of-pocket costs patients must pay from their personal funds 
• The quality of care received by patients whose medication is dispensed outside of the cancer system in the community

Other provinces recognized many years ago that cancer treatments are increasingly taken at home. Canada’s Western provinces treat take-home cancer drugs and hospital-administered cancer drugs equally, regardless of the patient’s cancer type, age, or income and patients receive their treatment without delay or out-of-pocket cost. In Quebec, all people without private insurance, pay a public insurance premium of up to a maximum of $1,046 per year, after which the cost of take-home cancer medications are fully covered.

Find more facts about Ontario’s two-tiered system and how it affects patients here.

It’s time for Ontario to update its cancer care programs to put patients ahead of process. 

Cancer cannot wait. Get involved now!

1. Write to your Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP)

• Make your MPP aware that Ontario’s cancer treatment programs are out of date and unfairly punishing patients treated at home. You can write your own letter or adapt our sample letter here.
  

2. Write to the Honourable Sylvia Jones, Ontario’s Deputy Premier and Minister of Health

• Tell her cancer patients in Ontario cannot wait any longer to fix the inequities they face when accessing take-home cancer medications. You can write your own letter or adapt our sample here.

Find additional facts about the issue. Also, use these tips for writing your letters. Please let us know about your efforts and any response by emailing [email protected].

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Ontario Cancer Calculator - Find out how much take-home cancer medication could cost you and your family.