Health committee  I'll answer that question in the context of your initial comment about the senior population and employers potentially backing out of coverage there. We have seen that, not so much for the people who are are over 65, because in Alberta you get pretty good coverage under the cover

Health committee  I can answer that. Again, back to the plan sponsors, they can decide how they want to handle those exceptions. In the case of government, they have a generic price policy. If a person has tried the generic and has had adverse effects or it's not working, that individual is allow

Health committee  Yes, what we do with that is pay up to the level of the generic. Then the plan member is only paying the difference in the costs between the brand and the generic.

Health committee  Plan sponsors have a choice in terms of what they do around coverage for brands versus generics. I would say that the vast majority of our plan sponsors, and certainly government, have adopted the policy to enforce generic pricing. I would say that probably upwards of 80% to 90%

Health committee  To the question on the Alberta health process. Certainly they use the recommendations of the common drug review and they have local experts that sit on the Alberta expert committee. Those local experts are doctors, pharmacists, and so on, who work within the province of Alberta.

Health committee  I'll just add one thing to the government plan and the structure for the coverage for seniors. The way that copayment structure is modelled, so 30%, up to a maximum $25, I had spoken earlier about trying to encourage a maintenance supply of medications for use in chronic diseases

Health committee  Sure. If we look at the Government of Alberta plan in terms of the number of drugs—we call them drug identification numbers—that are covered on the plan, roughly 5,000 are covered on the Government of Alberta plan. In contrast, if we look at one of our typical private plans, wha

Health committee  When we look at prescription drug costs, I can probably speak to two key buckets. One would be related to the cost of the actual dispensing of the prescription, so that's your drug cost along with your dispensing fees and your markups. With that, there's a number of plan managem

Health committee  That formulary is the Alberta drug benefit list. Typically, when a new drug comes to market, it goes through the common drug review process. From there, Alberta Health will make a decision as to whether they follow the common drug review process. At times, they may have another l

Health committee  That's correct.

Health committee  Yes, there are subsidies. There is a family rate and a single rate. For people meeting certain lower income thresholds, the premium rates are subsidized and are lower.