Each province in Canada has a public health plan in place, and is additionally supported by federal health programs. Depending on the province and program, this helps cover hospital services, visits to the doctor and certain medication costs.
If you have a private drug plan, you may have additional coverage for eye care, dental work and certain prescriptions. Ideally, your public and private insurance would cover the cost of all your medications, but the reality is often more complicated.
For example, if you have a drug plan, you’ve probably used it to cover an everyday prescription at the pharmacy, and thought nothing more about it. But if you have been diagnosed with a condition that requires long-term treatment with a specialty medication, you may have a different experience when trying to get your insurance company to cover the costs.
