The Canadian Drug Insurance Pooling Corporation (CDIPC) has issued a statement, saying that its high-cost drug sharing framework helped cover for the medication costs of numerous employees.
In its release, the CDIPC said that in 2019 it provided coverage to 27,000 Canadians whose annual drug costs exceed $10,000. CDIPC noted that this figure represents an increase of 17% over 2018.
The corporation also reported that high-cost drugs associated with P3-based insurance plans accounted for less than 2% of claimants, but increased from 35% to 42% of costs in three years leading to 2019.
According to CDIPC, there have been 210 new drugs since 2017, where paid claims per employee were over $10,000. By 2019, employees and/or their dependents represented 11.3% of the total high-cost drug claims paid.
“The financial impact of high-cost drugs on private insurance plans continues to significantly grow year-over-year adding more financial pressure to these plans. Canadians now pay some of the highest patented drug costs in the world,” commented CDIPC executive director Dan Berty. “The cost-pooling mechanism offered by CDIPC is an important tool to help shelter employers from what would otherwise result in very significant impacts.”
Berty also said that reforms to the federal Patent Medicines Prices Review Board would further assist in reducing cost pressures, which the executive director said could save Canadian employers hundreds of millions of dollars annually.
