Provincial Drug Funding

I'm going to "speak" about a topic that I know little about, and that I am only just beginning to understand.

As I understand it, each province has it's own personal healthcare funding (in Manitoba it is called Pharmacare, in Ontario it's called Trillium etc.). My MS drug therapy is given what is called "Exceptional Drug Status", and I only have to pay a deductible, and then Pharmacare covers the rest.

As one of the resources from the drug company, I am able to speak with fellow MS patients who are on the same therapy as me. During my first week, I spoke to a terrific woman in Nova Scotia - she was so open, and chatty - and she asked about the drug coverage here in Manitoba. She told me that she had been speaking to a man in Newfoundland, who upon his MS diagnosis, was recommended to quit his job, and go on welfare, as this would be the best and cheapest way to get the drug therapies.

Please read this link:
http://www.mssociety.ca/en/releases/nr_20070524.htm

I understand that healthcare is a provincial responsibility, but what I don't understand is how the province you live in has such an impact on your frontline treatment against a disease that is the same across the country.

Can drug therapies that cost over a certain amount of money, automatically be federally funded?

Glad to be a Manitoban (today, anyway),

Emily