Assumption Life has announced it will join 22 other group insurance providers in the new drug pooling framework put forth last week by the Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association (CLHIA).
The day after the announcement from the Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association (CLHIA) about a new pooling framework for high-cost drugs, Stephen Frank, vice-president of policy development and health, spoke at a seminar releasing further details of the plan.
A group of 23 Canadian insurance companies has come up with a plan to share the cost of high-priced drug treatments—a move they say will protect Canadians from the risk of losing their employer-sponsored coverage due to a big claim.
The growing impact of high-cost specialty drugs, coupled with shifting roles for health practitioners, calls for stakeholders to work together to improve drug plan efficiencies. But how?
Magna International Inc., a global vehicle part manufacturer and assembler with a workforce of 104,000, has a decentralized management structure that allows every division to run as a separate entity, said Arthur Fabbro, the organization’s director of total compensation.
While Canadian drug innovators have to follow an arduous process when filing for regulatory approval for traditional small molecules, generic manufacturers “don’t have to prove as much, so the process is abbreviated—although they have to wait until the patents for the original drug and a data-exclusivity period have expired,”
Moderator Suzanne Lepage, a Toronto-based private plan strategist, launched the discussion by asking panellists what principles they followed when making decisions about drugs.
Less than 20% of plan sponsors are capable of tracking their specialty drug spend, according to a survey by the U.S.-based Pharmacy Benefit Management Institute (PBMI).
Many biologic drugs have a high price tag but they also provide employees a much healthier life and, in some cases, an easier return to work. So how does an employer balance the cost and benefit of biologics on its drug plan?
Watch this video The introduction of biologics to benefits plans is a double-edged sword: while biologics can significantly increase health outcomes for employees, they can also significantly increase costs for plan sponsors. But understanding how biologics affect your plan—and determining whether they help or hinder you—is about more than just basic costs. Plan sponsors can’t […]