Thank you for signing this Bitterest Pill petition in the spring and being an Ally to cancer patients. With your help, all four political parties in Ontario committed to improving access to take-home cancer treatments during the election. We need your help again to keep all MPPs accountable to their commitments.
Under the current Ontario system, cancer patients younger than 65 face delays, dollars and distress when they try to access the most effective, approved take-home cancer drugs that their lives depend on thanks to a patchwork of processes that has not kept pace with the current standards of care.
An investment of just $30 million per year will close the financial gap for uninsured and underinsured Ontario patients trying to access take-home cancer drugs. That’s approximately 10,000 people per year receiving life-extending or life-saving treatments for 1/10th of one percent of Ontario’s current healthcare spending.
Promises should be kept without us needing to follow up and spend time on stunts and mailer activations but with all the competing priorities this government is juggling, we had to make our presence felt with a reminder that hits home. This week, Rethink and CanCertainty sent every MPP a pharmacy bag, with a pill bottle inside, which instead of containing take-home cancer drugs, contains the lengthy, 3-metre long list of various hoops patients have to jump through in order to get the medication they’ve been prescribed for their cancer treatment while fighting for their life.
We are asking Members in Government to live up the commitment made in the spring budget to improve access to take-home cancer drugs, and for MPPs in opposition to hold them accountable and figure out how to create simple and affordable access to these drugs - just like they have in the Western Provinces, Northern Territories and Quebec. Ontario is a decade behind.
We need your help! With a simple message to your MPP, you can help show your support on this issue and help eliminate the emotional, physical, and financial burdens put on patients.
Ready to get started?
- Step 1: Search for your MPP using your postal code on this website.
- Step 2: Once you’ve identified your MPP, click the link on their page to send an email.
- Step 3: Copy and paste the message below into the email form. Feel free to personalise the message by including your own story.
Another way to help is to like, share and tag your MPP in the Rethink post on #BitterstPill social media here.
Thank you for your commitment to supporting cancer patients in Ontario. As the legislature reconvenes, we can all ensure that the government takes immediate steps to resolve this important issue for cancer patients.
LETTER TO YOUR MPP
Dear MPP <NAME>
My name is XX and I live in your riding. I’m writing to you today about the dollars, delays and distress cancer patients in Ontario younger than 65 years face when they need a take-home cancer drug.
Along with cancer patients, caregivers and healthcare professionals across Ontario, I was very encouraged when your party supported improving access to take-home cancer drugs (THCDs) during the spring election.
Ontario’s system for delivering and funding THCDs is a patchwork of processes that leave cancer patients younger than 65 with out-of-pocket costs, months of delays to receive treatment and unnecessary distress when they need a THCD. Yet Governments in the Western Provinces, Northern Territories and Quebec have all developed mechanisms to offer equal, faster, and more affordable access to THCDs alongside IV drugs. Ontario is a decade behind.
I’m asking you to support cancer patients across the province and help make sure the commitments in the Government’s spring budget to address the inequities patients face when they need THCDs are made.
Thank you for your support and helping to resolve this important issue affecting cancer patient across Ontario.
Sincerely,
Your Name
Your Address