You're correct that in the hospital all medication is covered, which is really helpful because I had an extended hospital stay. But the second you leave, everything is out-of-pocket.
I live in Ontario, which means that for those under the age of 25, you get covered for whatever prescription costs you have. However, that was just discontinued if you have private insurance. So we have a real problem. I go to university. Since my parents do not have private insurance, I cannot opt out of the insurance that my university provides, and my OHIP+ will not cover the medication that I need, because it is not part of what they deem necessary under their budget, nor will my private insurance, because it's not within their purview. That means I foot the bill. As someone who is going through rehabilitation for a stroke, that means I have to go to rehabilitation, cut down on my course load and not work. I do not have the funds outside of credit cards to pay for this, nor do my parents. It is a real issue in the sense that we need to provide a mechanism so that people won't have to go into debt to the tune of hundreds of dollars a month to pay for something that's life-sustaining, to keep them out of pain and to keep them going.