For defenders of government-run health care, the existence of provincial drug benefit plans is actually a blot on Canadian health care, in that they are not part of single-payer, first-dollar coverage, medicare (National Forum on Health, 1997:22). When the state took over health care, it left prescription drugs out of its grasp. As of 2001, governments in Canada paid for an estimated 49 percent of prescription costs, private insurers 30 percent, and individuals 21 percent.