The Canadian Drug Insurance Pooling Corp.’s high-cost drug framework provided coverage to almost 28,000 Canadians and their families where drug costs exceeded $10,000 annually in 2020.
According to its results, the CDIPC estimated that its member insurance companies reimbursed claims associated with 54 new high-cost drugs including those for rare diseases. As well, based on past experience, it estimated that about 174,000 Canadians face a high-cost drug burden, an increase of 34 per cent since 2016.
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“The COVID-19 pandemic had virtually no impact on CDIPC’s high-cost drug experience in 2019,” said Dan Berty, the organization’s executive director, in a press release. “During a time when the COVID-19 pandemic has created so many business challenges for small and mid-size employers and families, CDIPC’s framework has helped sustain the drug plans of 14,464 similarly sized employers across Canada.”
He also said he hopes “the federal government’s long-awaited PMPRB reforms will be implemented Jan. 1, 2022, to further assist employers and employees with their drug costs by saving millions annually.”
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