Although, these figures are historical (not released regularly), it is easy to see that Plan Sponsors should be encouraging plan members to be wise consumers and to look at the cost that pharmacist are charging for professional drug dispensing fees. Since guidelines were enacted a number of years ago, aimed at eliminating certain incentives/rebates to [...]
Ontario’s new Conservative government has announced changes to the province’s youth pharmacare program to make it second payer for Ontarians under age 25 who have coverage through private benefits plans. “Today, our government is announcing our intent to fix the OHIP+ program by focusing benefits on those who do not have existing prescription drug benefits,” [...]
Rising prescription drug costs is not an unfamiliar topic to the vast majority of plan sponsors. The message from advisors is to encourage members to be wiser consumers. Plan members often learn at the pharmacy counter that the Pharmacy Benefit Manager (PBM) or Insurer was not paying for the full cost of their prescription, either because [...]
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY In 2016, Express Scripts Canada’s analysis of private-plan spending trends once again reflected opposing cost forces. Factors driving an increase in drug spend have outweighed downward pressure on drug costs. At the same time, high-cost drugs and high-cost patients continued to create troubling trend acceleration. These new medicines offer high cure rates for [...]
From time to time, Insurers can do a particularly good job of communicating a particular strategy or educating plan sponsors on a particular topic. This month (April 2016) Green Shield Canada came out with a very good document outlining their position and possibly that of their competitors with respect to the treatment of "generic" or [...]
