OHIP won't cover cancer drug

A Toronto mother says she's upset and outraged after learning that OHIP won't pay for a crucial cancer therapy drug.

When Jill Anzarut learned she had breast cancer, she said she was "completely completely stunned by the diagnosis." She said she felt as if the floor went out from under her.

Then she learned that OHIP won't pay for the drug that specifically targets the kind of tumour she has.

"I cried to my husband, 'I just can't catch a break,'" she said.

The lump that doctors found in her breast is half a centimentre wide.

If she lived in BC, Alberta or Saskatchewan, medicare would pay for the drug for a tumour that small.

But Ontario's health insurance will only pay for the drug, ifthe patient has a tumourtwice the size of the one Anzarut has.

"Nobody else should have to go through this and I think it's important that some changes be made," she said.

Ontario Health Minister Deb Matthews says she can't intervene.

"It would be inappropriate and probably illegal for me to abuse my position to fight for a drug to be covered," said Matthews.

The minister says it's up to a senior executive in the health ministry to decide whether an exception can be made - and Anzarut's doctors have made the request.

In the meantime Anzarut says she's planning to pay to have the drug administered through a private clinic - at a cost of $50,000.