Manulife will cover specialty drugs filled at any pharmacy, the insurance company said Monday, backtracking on its decision to only cover drugs filled at Loblaw-owned pharmacies less than a week after the exclusivity deal was announced.
“This decision ensures Canadians have choice, access and flexibility in managing their health,” the website reads in the Q&A portion of its statement.
Members with specialty drug prescriptions can still receive their medications through Bayshore and Loblaw-owned pharmacies.
When reached for comment, a spokesperson for Manulife pointed CBC News to the website statement.
The initial deal first reported by The Canadian Press would have impacted around 260 medications under the insurance company’s Specialty Drug Care program, which are meant to treat complex, chronic or life-threatening conditions.
It sparked backlash from customers, drug policy experts and independent pharmacists, who said the plan — known as a preferred pharmacy network arrangement — would degrade the quality of pharmaceutical care that patients receive.
The original article contains 347 words, the summary contains 149 words. Saved 57%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
You are not logged in. However you can subscribe from another Fediverse account, for example Lemmy or Mastodon. To do this, paste the following into the search field of your instance: !canada@lemmy.ca
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Manulife will cover specialty drugs filled at any pharmacy, the insurance company said Monday, backtracking on its decision to only cover drugs filled at Loblaw-owned pharmacies less than a week after the exclusivity deal was announced.
“This decision ensures Canadians have choice, access and flexibility in managing their health,” the website reads in the Q&A portion of its statement.
Members with specialty drug prescriptions can still receive their medications through Bayshore and Loblaw-owned pharmacies.
When reached for comment, a spokesperson for Manulife pointed CBC News to the website statement.
The initial deal first reported by The Canadian Press would have impacted around 260 medications under the insurance company’s Specialty Drug Care program, which are meant to treat complex, chronic or life-threatening conditions.
It sparked backlash from customers, drug policy experts and independent pharmacists, who said the plan — known as a preferred pharmacy network arrangement — would degrade the quality of pharmaceutical care that patients receive.
The original article contains 347 words, the summary contains 149 words. Saved 57%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!