Plan sponsors and administrators walk a razor’s edge, striving to ensure members have access to the services they need while also making certain the plan is financially sustainable. Working collaboratively with health-care providers is a critical step, but these partnerships have often proved elusive, delegates heard at the 2018 Halifax Benefits Summit. “There is a disconnect. We […]
Don’t confuse biosimilars with generic drugs, cautioned Dr. Ian Blumer at the 2018 Halifax Benefits Summit in September. While the terms may be used interchangeably, these two types of drugs aren’t the same thing, said the endocrinologist and director of the Charles H. Best Diabetes Centre in Whitby, Ont., during his presentation. “Generic drugs are chemicals. […]
A coalition comprised of dozens of federal and provincial health-care organizations, including providers, patient groups, academics, health practitioner unions and professional associations, have teamed up to create a set of principles for national pharmacare in Canada. First, the coaltion believes pharmacare should work as a clear extension of Canada’s current universal health-care system, bringing pharmaceutical services in […]
SSQ Life Insurance Co. Inc. will provide plan sponsors with the option of covering medical marijuana beginning Jan. 1, 2019, The move is in relation to recent clinical advances showing the efficacy of cannabis in treating certain medical problems, according to the Quebec-based insurer. To help keep group insurance costs in check, SSQ will require prior […]
Public drug plan spending continued its upward trend in 2016-17, though at a much slower rate rather in 2015-16, according to a new report by the Patented Medicine Prices Review Board. The analysis, which focuses on the public drug plans participating in the National Prescription Drug Utilization Information System initiative, found spending increased just 1.9 per cent in 2016-17, […]
The escalating cost of drugs and benefits plans are among the top priorities for Canadian employers, according to a new survey by Aon. The survey, which polled nearly 200 Canadian plan sponsors about their priorities related to group benefits and their workforces, found rising drug costs, in general, escalating specialty drug prices, in particular, and the increasing cost of extended health are the […]
Universal pharmacare is an idea that has been kicking around for decades in Canada. Yet despite numerous studies calling for a universal single-payer pharmacare program to ensure all Canadians have access to prescription drugs, the country’s drug system remains a patchwork of public and private plans. This spring, the House of Commons’ standing committee on […]
While the move to more defined contribution-style health benefits plans provides greater clarity and flexibility to plan sponsors, it would be natural to wonder whether or not the available options are limited to the two extremes alone. The continuum of benefits plan design includes fully insured plans, fully self-insured (administration services-only or ASO) plans and hybrid […]
The federal government’s plan to increasingly regulate pharmaceutical costs could mean Canadians with rare diseases may lose access to new innovative drug treatments, according to a new study by the Fraser Institute. In 2019, the Patented Medicine Prices Review Board is planning to use new rules for establishing drug prices with the goal of lowering costs. “Drugs for […]
As September approaches, activity in the catastrophic stop-loss insurance market will start to heat up for self-insured plan sponsors. This is when the annual dance of plans obtaining their proposed premium for the coming year, and trying to find ways to mitigate the increase, hits a fever pitch. Imagine a province, without a single provincial insurer, […]