Assessing the effectiveness of government and industry media campaigns on seniors' perceptions of reference-based pricing policy

Introduction of a cost-containment program, reference-based pricing (RBP), to British Columbia's Pharmacare system illuminates the competing perspectives and agendas of government and the pharmaceutical industry when implementing health care funding policy affecting seniors. We examine the intensive public relations campaigns and media messages used by these stakeholders, exploring the impact they had on seniors' views about RBP. Whereas Pharmacare stressed the fiscal merits of RBP, industry focused on the possible threat to public health and attempted to rally seniors and health care providers against it. A survey of seniors shortly after the policy's introduction indicates much skepticism about the anti-RBP information received from industry and moderate support for the policy, which was seen as good stewardship of tax dollars. The pharmaceutical industry's campaign was unsuccessful because Pharmacare's messages resonated more effectively with seniors' views on public health policy.