Insurance
Providers Employers /
Unions Health Spending Accounts Provincial, Territorial & Fedral Drug Plans Claiming on Your Tax Return
Health Benefits Plan Sponsors (employers, unions, associations who provide health benefits plans for their employees/ members) usually include coverage for outpatient medications. These plans provide access to prescription medications as well as non-prescription medications and medical devices. The plan sponsor usually uses a third party (an insurance provider ) to provide coverage of medications for its employees. Not all medications are covered and usually the plan sponsor decides on what medications will be covered. How plan sponsors make this decision is by choosing from a number of drug / medication plans offered by the various insurance providers. Each plan has a formulary of medications covered by the plan. A plan sponsor can customize a plan or formulary for its members and can add individual medications (prescription and non-prescription medications and natural health products) to the plan. A number of insurance providers have made medical cannabis / medical marijuana available on a formulary available to plan sponsors. When available, coverage is subject to usage criteria and other plan restrictions. In addition to coverage through the formulary mechanism, some plans have a Health Spending Account (HSA) component. A HSA allows plan members to be reimbursed for eligible out-of-pocket, health-related expenses that are not covered by their extended health and dental plans. Eligible expenses are defined as a list of medical expenses or as the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) list of eligible medical expenses. Medical marijuana is listed as an eligible expense in many company HSAs and is on the CRA list of eligible medical expenses.
Insurance Provider |
Coverage Details updated March 14, 2019 |
Provider Medical Cannabis Information / Forms |
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Alberta Blue Cross |
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Co-Operators Life Insurance Co. |
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Desjardins Insurance |
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Green Shield Canada |
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Great West Life |
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Markers Financial |
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Manulife |
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Medavie Blue Cross |
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SSQ Insurance |
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SunLife Financial |
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