Health Canada drops Paxlovid coverage, Albertans on the hook for the bill

  • 📰 CTVCalgary
  • ⏱ Reading Time:
  • 107 sec. here
  • 3 min. at publisher
  • 📊 Quality Score:
  • News: 46%
  • Publisher: 68%

Health Health Headlines News

Health Health Latest News,Health Health Headlines

While some provinces are taking over coverage of Paxlovid, a drug that fights symptoms of COVID-19 in immunocompromised individuals, Alberta patients may be paying more than $1,400 per treatment.

A morning and evening dose of Paxlovid is shown in an undated photo. According to Alberta pharmacists a five-day supply of the drug will cost Albertans more than $1,400. Health Canada ended federal coverage of Paxlovid, a COVID-19 drug for immunocompromised patients, making coverage a provincial responsibility.

As of the end of May, the Public Health Agency of Canada has discontinued coverage, now making the drug a provincial responsibility.The information you need to know, sent directly to you: Download the CTV News App Some employer-sponsored plans may provide partial coverage, but depending on co-pay could still see patients paying large amounts for the treatment.According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a person's immune response to having COVID-19 can protect them from reinfection for several months, but protection decreases over time.

Once treatment begins, a patient's symptoms should not get worse as the drugs help the body fight the viral infection. "I monitored my oxygen level and temperature, and promised the RNs I spoke with to go in if I went past certain thresholds."Symptoms gradually subsided but fatigue and some breathing changes persisted.

"While it was awful and I was still slow to recover, it was night and day compared to what I went through in March," she said.Peace contacted pharmacist Amber Shepherd at Pincher Creek Pharmasave to find out what the medication would have cost and was astonished to learn that the five-day treatment would be more than $1,400 the next time it's needed.

Shepherd has not yet seen new prescriptions after the change in coverage, but worries about what this will mean for local patients. Atlanta police had barely finished briefing the community about a shooting inside a downtown food court Tuesday afternoon when calls began to come in about a bus hijacking.While a rare bacterial infection that can lead to meningitis is on the rise in some provinces across Canada, an infectious diseases specialist says it’s not expected to 'spiral out of control.'A Canadian has died in India, Global Affairs Canada confirmed to CTV News Wednesday.

The first urgent care centre in Saskatchewan will be opening in Regina on July 2, according to the Saskatchewan Health Authority .SIU says subject officers in deadly wrong-way crash in Whitby haven't submitted notes, agreed to interview

 

Thank you for your comment. Your comment will be published after being reviewed.
Please try again later.
We have summarized this news so that you can read it quickly. If you are interested in the news, you can read the full text here. Read more:

 /  🏆 26. in HEALTH

Health Health Latest News, Health Health Headlines

Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.

Health pros blast decision to keep Canada’s breast screening age at 50Task force lambasted for not to lowering recommended routine breast cancer screening age to 40
Source: TerraceStandard - 🏆 24. / 68 Read more »

Increasing the capital-gains taxes will hurt health care in CanadaThe negative effects of the 2024 budget for life science and health care in Canada will be pronounced
Source: globeandmail - 🏆 5. / 92 Read more »

Wildfire smoke from Canada is prompting health warnings in the U.S. againAir quality advisories were issued Sunday for parts of Montana, the Dakotas, Minnesota and Wisconsin due to haze emitting from fires burning across western Canada.
Source: GlobalCalgary - 🏆 50. / 61 Read more »