CPFF has formally asked Canada’s Drug Agency (CDA) to add supplemental (medical) oxygen to the new Essential Medicines list that will inform a future national pharmacare formulary. You can read the submission here.
Why this matters
Oxygen is a life-sustaining, prescribed therapy for people with pulmonary fibrosis and other serious lung diseases. But because it’s often managed like a device rather than a medicine, access and out-of-pocket costs vary widely by province. Listing oxygen as essential medicine would help create fair, consistent coverage across Canada and reduce avoidable hospital visits by supporting timely, community-based care. Our submission highlights patient and clinician experience and urges the CDA to close this policy gap so people can breathe—and live—more easily.
Show your support!
CPFF is encouraging all supporters to write to their Member of Parliament (MP) and ask them to support CPFF’s recommendation to include oxygen on the Essential Medicines list.
How to do it (takes two minutes)
1) Find your MP by entering your postal code here.
2) Copy and paste the message below (feel free to personalize).
3) Email your MP (address is on their profile).
Sample Email message
Subject line: Help people breathe: Make medical oxygen an Essential Medicine
Dear [MP Name],
I’m a constituent in [name of riding]. I’m writing to ask you to support the Canadian Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation’s submission to Canada’s Drug Agency to include supplemental (medical) oxygen on the Essential Medicines list that will guide a national pharmacare formulary.
For people with pulmonary fibrosis and other serious lung diseases, oxygen is not optional, it’s a life-sustaining, prescribed therapy. Yet access and costs vary by province because oxygen is often managed like a device rather than a medicine. Listing oxygen as essential will help deliver fair, consistent coverage across Canada and support timely, community-based care that can reduce avoidable hospital visits.
Please urge the Minister of Health and Canada’s Drug Agency to include medical oxygen on the Essential Medicines list.
Thank you for your leadership on equitable access to care.
Sincerely,
[Your Name]
[City/Postal Code]
[Phone or Email]
Insights about the state of oxygen therapy in Canada
The Access to Oxygen Therapy in Canada Report summarizes all of the oxygen therapy research CPFF conducted with all stakeholder groups in 2022 and 2023.
Our research confirmed what patients and others have been telling us for years: access to oxygen varies dramatically across Canada. Medical criteria to qualify for oxygen therapy vary widely, frustrating patients, caregivers, medical professionals, and oxygen providers alike. People with PF must navigate a patchwork system with few supports. Canada can, and must, do better. Read CPFF’s Oxygen Therapy Reports.