At 21, Jeff Aarssen was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis.
While growth in drug plan spending is forecast to remain in low single digits over the next few years, plan sponsors could do more to ensure value for the dollars they spend.
April 1 ushered in a new era with respect to the medical use of marijuana in Canada. There are emerging implications for plan sponsors that should be considered proactively. Health Canada has repealed the Marijuana Medical Access Program in favour of the Marijuana for Medical Purposes Regulations whereby patients using medical marijuana will have to access their supply from one of 12 licensed growers (as of April 1, 2014) in Canada and can go through their own doctor for approval as opposed to having to apply to Health Canada.
As longevity increases and chronic diseases become more prevalent in Canada, companies are seeing a rise in the number of high-cost claimants. Different employers discussed the cost-cutting measures they’ve introduced in response to this rise during the 11th annual Group Insurance and Pharmaceutical Committee event in Toronto on Wednesday.
ClaimSecure has launched its new single/family budgeted rates as an optional funding arrangement for plan sponsors' administrative services only health and dental plans.
Behaviour change is hard, but targeted health interventions can have a positive impact.
In an era of evolving workplace demographics and escalating healthcare costs, integrated wellness is the way forward
Some stakeholders in the health benefits community believe that the cost of new (patented) medicines threatens the sustainability of prescription drug benefits in Canada. At the same time, cost concerns are encouraging drug plan sponsors to shift to plan designs that limit access to the most innovative treatments.
Last year, $29.3 billion was spent on prescription drugs in Canada, but the annual growth rate was the second-lowest in more than 20 years.
Although American employers express concerns over the growing proportion of drug costs attributable to specialty medications—currently exceeding 30% and expected to increase to more than 50% in the next several years—a report finds that only 16% of employers devote more than 30% of pharmacy benefit management time to specialty drugs. That’s according to the Pharmacy […]