#canada 2026-01-24

how does coverage work if you have diabetes versus if you dont

the freezing worry is more room theory than published data for these specific compounds and we should keep saying so

sorry to jump in anyone in ontario able to say what theyre actually paying

is there a national picture at all or is it entirely provincial

postal in winter

update from 17 months ago: my province still does not cover it and my plan started to, partially

for the archive i had a parcel sit in an unheated depot at minus eighteen for two days and the powder tested fine, take that with a pinch of salt

powder survived a freeze

quebec is different

my monthly cost with partial insurance came to about 120 canadian dollars, which is not a number anybody else can use

Archive lookup: electrolyte_eli first appears in this channel on 2025-07-06.

is provincial coverage as much of a patchwork as it looks from outside

does the postal service or the courier handle winter better

*Janoshik not the other one

moved from Ontario to Alberta and my coverage story changed completely. is that expected

entirely expected. drug coverage is provincial and the provinces do not coordinate

welcome to Alberta. what does your workplace plan look like, because that matters more here than the public formulary does

decent plan, 80% up to a cap

then youll be broadly fine and youll hit the cap in november every year

the november cap. every single year

what does the public side actually cover

for the diabetes indication, with criteria, generally something. for weight management specifically, in most provinces as of 2025, essentially nothing public

Quebec is its own animal as usual, with the public plan and the private plan interacting in ways i have never fully understood despite living here

nobody understands Quebec pharmacare, including Quebec

rude and accurate

member-reported, 2025, and please do not treat this as a formulary

so private insurance is the actual healthcare system for this

for this class, in most of Canada, yes, and that is a fairly uncomfortable sentence about a public system

the guideline picture is the other half. Diabetes Canada, the old CDA, has had GLP-1s in its guidance for the diabetes indication for years

obesity guidance in Canada is separate and it has been ahead of the funding for a while. the clinicians got there before the payers did

clinicians ahead of payers is the theme of the decade

how does the price compare to the US

much lower. as of 2025 i was paying in the low CAD 300s a month for the diabetes-labelled product at a mid dose

which is why a certain amount of American attention has pointed north over the last few years

and why there are export restrictions designed to stop bulk buying draining our supply. thats real policy, not a rumour

and it is not our job to help anyone route around it. describing is fine, planning is not

same line as always

does anyone get it through a compounding pharmacy here

less of a phenomenon than it was in the US, and the regulatory picture around it has tightened. it was never the main route here

the main route here is a script, a pharmacy, and an argument with an insurer

the great Canadian trilogy

how long did the insurer argument take you

eleven weeks and two letters from my doctor. approved in the end, and the second letter was the one that worked because it listed comorbidities in the order the insurer cared about

the order they cared about. thats a genuinely useful detail

ask your prescriber what the insurer usually wants to see. they know. they just dont volunteer it

coming back to Quebec being its own animal — is it better or worse if you actually live there

better if you are low income, worse if you are middle income with a mediocre plan. thats my read after nine years

which is true of almost every hybrid system on earth

depressingly portable insight