A SURVEY OF PRECEPTIONS AND ATTITUDES OF CANADIANS TOWARD CANCER AND ACCESS TO MEDICATIONS
SUMMARY OF FINDINGS
SUMMARY OF FINDINGS
KEY FINDINGS
A recent national survey shows that Canadians are divided on how confident they are about having access to the necessary medications, if they were diagnosed with cancer. In fact, 43% of respondents indicated they were not confident that they would have access to the cancer medications they would need.
· Although they are divided in their confidence about having access to the necessary cancer medications, Canadians are optimistic in that they tend to see cancer as something you can live with (64%), as opposed to something you will necessarily die from.
· Greater access to cancer treatments ranked second only to reduced wait times among a list of four potential priorities for government health care spending.
· After being told about the current public insurance coverage for cancer treatments in Canada, the vast majority of Canadians (86%) stated that provincial government programs should pay for all cancer medications approved by Health Canada for those eligible - even if it meant a re-allocation of health care dollars. 84% of respondents felt that all of the provincial governments should have a common list of cancer drugs that they cover instead of having different coverage lists in each province.
· Very few (15%) correctly identify multiple myeloma as a blood cancer. A third (33%) mistakenly identified it as a type of skin cancer and another third (36%) admitted to not knowing what it is.
SURVEY METHODOLOGY
A recent national survey shows that Canadians are divided on how confident they are about having access to the necessary medications, if they were diagnosed with cancer. In fact, 43% of respondents indicated they were not confident that they would have access to the cancer medications they would need.
· Although they are divided in their confidence about having access to the necessary cancer medications, Canadians are optimistic in that they tend to see cancer as something you can live with (64%), as opposed to something you will necessarily die from.
· Greater access to cancer treatments ranked second only to reduced wait times among a list of four potential priorities for government health care spending.
· After being told about the current public insurance coverage for cancer treatments in Canada, the vast majority of Canadians (86%) stated that provincial government programs should pay for all cancer medications approved by Health Canada for those eligible - even if it meant a re-allocation of health care dollars. 84% of respondents felt that all of the provincial governments should have a common list of cancer drugs that they cover instead of having different coverage lists in each province.
· Very few (15%) correctly identify multiple myeloma as a blood cancer. A third (33%) mistakenly identified it as a type of skin cancer and another third (36%) admitted to not knowing what it is.
SURVEY METHODOLOGY
The findings reflect results of a nationwide online survey of adult Canadians conducted by Angus Reid Strategies on behalf of Myeloma Canada. The study was conducted among a randomly selected, representative sample of 1,002 adult Canadians. Below is the breakdown by region:
· British Columbia: n=140
· Alberta: n=123
· Manitoba/Saskatchewan: n=63
· Ontario: n=356
· Quebec: n=224
· Atlantic: n=96
The data were collected between November 14 and 16, 2008. The margin of error for results based on the total sample of 1,002 is +/- 3.1%, 19 times out of 20. Results have been statistically weighted according to Statistics Canada’s most current education, age, gender and region Census data to ensure a representative sample of the entire adult population of Canada.
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For more information, please contact:
Rosalind O’Connell
Hill & Knowlton Canada
(416) 413-4773
rosalind.oconnell@hillandknowlton.ca
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