{"id":689654,"date":"2026-05-24T01:11:53","date_gmt":"2026-05-24T01:11:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/689654\/"},"modified":"2026-05-24T01:11:53","modified_gmt":"2026-05-24T01:11:53","slug":"drug-costs-putting-pressure-on-health-plans-and-people-discovermoosejaw-com","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/689654\/","title":{"rendered":"Drug costs putting pressure on health plans, and people &#8211; DiscoverMooseJaw.com"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A new report from\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.telus.com\/en\/health?utm_source=chatgpt.com\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">TELUS Health<\/a>\u00a0suggests rising prescription drug costs are continuing to put pressure on both public and private health plans across Canada, including in Saskatchewan.<\/p>\n<p>Vicki Lee, director of pharmacy consulting and professional services with TELUS Health, said the company\u2019s annual drug trends report shows growing use of high-cost specialty medications and increasing demand for prescription coverage.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe&#8217;re seeing more and more claimants using their drug plans,\u201d Lee said during an interview. \u201cWe&#8217;re seeing higher spend on drug plans in general with growth in the specialty space.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Specialty drugs driving higher costs<\/p>\n<p>Lee said specialty drugs are typically defined as medications costing $10,000 or more annually and are becoming a larger share of prescription spending.<\/p>\n<p>The report groups Saskatchewan with other western provinces because provincial pharmacare programs in the region often act as the first payer, creating a different dynamic compared to eastern provinces where private plans typically pay first.<\/p>\n<p>Lee said while more patients are gaining access to innovative treatments, the increased costs are placing added pressure on health plans and insurers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think what patients will start seeing is there\u2019s more programs in place to make sure that plans stay sustainable,\u201d Lee said.<\/p>\n<p>She noted some patients may encounter additional approval requirements, including prior authorization programs designed to ensure high-cost therapies are prescribed to patients most likely to benefit from them.<\/p>\n<p>New therapies improving treatment options<\/p>\n<p>Despite the rising costs, Lee said the report also highlights positive developments within the pharmaceutical sector, including increased access to innovative therapies for conditions that previously had limited treatment options.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere seems to be a lot more focus from manufacturers on rare diseases and areas of therapeutics that didn&#8217;t have options before,\u201d Lee said.<\/p>\n<p>The report also noted broader adoption of generic and biosimilar medications, which can offer the same treatment benefits as brand-name drugs at a lower cost. Lee said that trend could help improve long-term sustainability for public and private drug plans.<\/p>\n<p>Weight management medications, including newer therapies such as Wegovy and Zepbound, are also becoming more widely covered under insurance plans as more effective treatment options enter the market.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A new report from\u00a0TELUS Health\u00a0suggests rising prescription drug costs are continuing to put pressure on both public and&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":689655,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[49,48,84,392],"class_list":["post-689654","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-health","tag-healthcare"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/689654","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=689654"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/689654\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/689655"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=689654"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=689654"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=689654"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}