A drug plan is a program designed to help pay for a person’s prescription drug expenses. There are two (2) types of drug plans in Canada:
Insurance Drug Plans
These are programs provided by insurance companies. You may hear people refer to an insurance drug plan as a person’s “private” coverage. That is because it is a privately run plan that is paid for by a person, their employer, or another group they belong to (e.g. a union). Most people in Canada have an insurance drug plan that is paid for by their employer, called a “group plan”.
Public Drug Plans
A public drug plan is a government-subsidized plan designed to help certain groups of people access prescription drugs. Traditionally, government drug plans were targeted to those who did not have access to an insurance drug plan. Today they help a range of different people in different situations. Public drug plans do not always offer “automatic” enrollment. Many programs require you to apply and may not offer 100% coverage.
