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Deductibles, Co-payment, Benefit year and Income Program Information for Provincial Drug Plans
Prepared by Janice Hansen, Brogan Inc.
Click on the map below for information about each province's drug plan.
Pharmaceutical sales, appropriately measured by the prescriptions filled by pharmacies, can be influenced by several factors, many of which are related to the financial position of the patient. Some of these factors occur regularly and are labelled ‘seasonal factors’ by economists, while others relate to the amount of the patient contribution.
While economists label regular patterns affecting buying as ‘seasonal’, this does not refer to just weather patterns. For example, the number of days in the month, the number of business days, and holidays, etc. all combine to affect the number of prescriptions filled and the trend in sales measured over time. One seasonal set of factors is the benefit year – the date at which the deductible is reset to zero and the patient is required to pay 100% of his or her drug cost This has a bearing on the timing of purchasing and some monthly variations in dispensing can be explained by the benefit year. It is not uncommon to see dispensing increase just before the end of one benefit year and drop in the following month as patients stock up on their medications.
Another factor having a bearing on the drug consumption of patients is the amount of the copayment since this does affect how much is purchased. Similarly, the amount and timing of the deductible will influence buying patterns.
We are often asked about the benefit year for various public drug plans as well as the patient copayment and deductibles. The information provided here is from published information on provincial drug plans and is subject to change without notice. It has been compiled by Brogan Inc. as part of ongoing client work and as part of the service offered under GPM® and ProScript®.
This information is from public sources outside of the control of Brogan Inc. Brogan Inc. has exercised all care in extracting the information but does not warrant the accuracy or the completeness of the information not does it accept any liability for indirect, special, incidental, exemplary or consequential damages (including, without limitation, lost profits) resulting from the client’s use of the information.
Click on a province to access information about that province's drug benefits plan.
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