BC changed the rules around Pharmacare on January 1st of this year. These changes will save money.
The biggest change is that they have lowered or eliminated the deductible that we had to pay. Lower incomes now have a $0 deductible.
If you are not registered for Pharmacare, below you will find a link to get registered.
Most insurers expect that you are registered for any free or mandatory government health plan. We are seeing more insurers state that coverage for certain medications is subject to Pharmacare coverage. Some of our clients have seen recent enforcement of this little known rule. We expect to see more in the future. Registration is free. Just follow the link below.
The reason this is happening is that Canada is one of the most expensive places in the world to buy medication. This situation is only getting worse. Your insurance premiums are very affected by those increasing costs. By putting the provincial plan in front of your insurance plan, we are able to keep premiums as reasonable as possible.
If you have a group insurance policy, please send these links to your employees. Let them know they may have some drug claims reduced or declined if they do not get registered. If employees are registered in Pharmacare they may find that with an 80% plan, they can get 100% of any eligible drug covered. The government plan may cover 70% of the medication and the insurance plan will likely cover the remaining 30%. (Note that Pharmacare covers about 3,600 medications. Most insurance plans cover around 14,000.)
Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions.
Below are the links you need:
Link to Pharmacare:
https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/health/health-drug-coverage/pharmacare-for-bc-residents/who-we-cover/fair-pharmacare-plan
What they cover:
https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/health/health-drug-coverage/pharmacare-for-bc-residents/what-we-cover
How to register:
https://pharmacare.moh.hnet.bc.ca/
List of income and deductibles:
https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/health/health-drug-coverage/pharmacare/income_bands_regular_2019.pdf
