How Will I Pay for Expensive Medication?
Developing a serious illness, injury, or disability is not only a difficult diagnosis to handle, it can also be expensive! Knowing how to pay for your medication is an important, and often daunting task, as treatment costs continue to skyrocket. Even in Canada where healthcare is said to be "free", many are left wondering, "How will I pay for my expensive medication if I become unemployed?" or "What will I do if I am denied long term disability benefits?"
Only about 40% of Canadians have private drug insurance (about half of those have catastrophic coverage), 40% have public health insurance (with big differences in deductibles and co-payments) and 20% have no coverage and have to pay for drugs out-of-pocket. Ultimately, coverage depends on where people live and where they work. Young, self-employed, and middle-income earners in smaller provinces are the most vulnerable.
Consider this: someone with a $20,000 annual drug bill—not unusual for a cancer patient or someone with a chronic condition like rheumatoid arthritis—would pay nothing in the Northwest Territories, roughly $1,500 in Quebec, $8,000 in Saskatchewan, and $20,000 in Prince Edward Island (Cost of Drugs, 2015). This is incredibly inconsistent!
Protection against the cost of expensive medication
Getting extended health coverage through Group Benefits at work can provide protection for the cost of expensive medication. However, if your employment is terminated (i.e. you quit or lose your job), your benefits will end and you will no longer be entitled to health benefits under your employer's policy. You may also be "inactively" employed long enough to be removed from the benefits under the contract terms.
That being said, you should never assume just because you are not actively at work, or have refused disability benefits, that other employment "perks" automatically end. There are many government-funded programs that offer Medication Payment Assistance in Ontario for those who qualify, and a Share Lawyers is always standing by to assist you with your long term disability claim, even if you've already been denied!
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Denied your long term disability claim?
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