Discussions

With all the changes that have been allowed through the province surrounding dispensing fees. My questions are as follows:  
 
1. Does your pharmacy have to disclose the actual amount the dispensing fees?  
2. Are you allowed to ask pharmacies what they charge for dispensing fees?  
3. Is there a public list any where of what the dispensing fees are at each pharmacy?  
 
I know between my spouse and I, we have incredible benefits through both our work places, I would have assumed that being covered under two plans would have made it so we are 100% covered but the last few months that does not seem to be the case. I am having to pay some out of pocket money every month for mine and one of my children's medications where as my spouse seems to be 100% covered all year long.  
 
I am not sure if it has to do with the dispensing fees or deductible limits on our plans but it just seems odd to me that I am paying what I am out of pocket.  
 
I tried looking through my benefits app to search pharmacies dispensing fees but for whatever reason I can't search the ones we take or my app says we aren't covered which is odd since we are and have been for years.  
 
I am looking into wanting to switch pharmacies but I want to go some where reasonable and has fairly fast service. I stopped using some of the bigger box stores because of the wait times to even just get a new inhaler some days.

I would imagine you could just ask. We are 80% coverage and run out by spring having to pay out of pocket the rest of the year. I have asked to have 3 months at a time to save on dispensing fees (I hope).  
 
This is older but found this online  
 
https://cansumer.ca/dispensing-fees/

I can't find a date on this one  
 
https://moneyguide.ca/fees/drug-dispensing-fees/

I used to go to a Big Box pharmacy in the East End. The wait times started getting atrocious. Also mistakes were being made. After an accident I was on morphine for a while. One of thier mistakes was giving me a dose that could have done real harm. I am lucky my husband was on the ball and didn't recognize the pill so he took it back. They didn't understand what the doctor wrote so guessed. I figured with such tight regulations on opiods (my doctor had that pres:cription pad locked in a safe) that if they didn't understand what was prescribed they would contact my doctor. After all those mix ups I wanted to change pharmacies. The kicker was when I switched pharmacies they started giving me 3 months at once. So only one despencing fee. The big box store had always told me my insurer would not allow that. It was a lie to get 3 separate dispensing fees. I now use a small local pharmacy on the 900 block of 6th street. They are nice, polite and timely. My policy has a $5 deductible on all my pres:criptions and there I pay $5 or less. The Big Box place my $5 pres:criptions were always $7-$10 because of their higher dispensing fees.

I’ve had several issues of late with big biz pharmacy in east end. They have been forgetting part of the Rx ‘s and take forever to process. Part of problem is short staffing. You really need to check your pick up orders before you leave. I’ve had to go back on several occasions in last three months.

To answer the OP's questions:  
 
No, they do not have to print the dispensing fee on the receipt. Most, however, will tell you exactly what they are if you ask. I've asked.  
 
Dispensing fees have 2 parts - there's a static part that's like a service fee, that's the same no matter how many months you fill, and it's a per-fill. The other part fluctuates depending on how many months you're filling etc. So the more pills they count at a time, the more you pay for that part.  
 
I ran into this over the years with our plan capping the dispensing fees, and our "new" plan has lowered them even more. So many times, the amount we pay out of pocket exceeds the 20% we're supposed to have because of the plan cap on fees. We're also not allowed to pay it more than 5x a year on a single pres:cription (refills), because a single month fill is lower in the moment when you're filling it, but if you fill 3 months its cheaper to fill the 3 months together because you're only paying the static service fee once. So our plan won't pay the whole dispensing fee for 3 months because it's too high (because we're paying for them to count out 90 days of pills), but won't let us fill it more often because then they have to cover the service fee part more often. It makes me mad even just typing this explanation out lol.  
 
The fees vary by pharmacy and are set by the business itself, so there's no listing etc. Our plan literally tells us to "shop around" for the lowest fees if we want to avoid paying the excess.

Recently the federal government changed who their benefit plan is through. I'm not sure if that is who you work for, but if it is, there is a way around the 'only 5 dispensing fees'. I am a primary care provider, and had a client who required their medications to be dispensed monthly in blister packs. The insurance company who runs the benefit plan has a form for the prescriber to fill in, stating the reason that medications are required to be dispensed more than 5 times a year. There are various reasons for needing meds dispensed more frequently, including cognitive, physical, safety, etc. It was approved for my client, and they get 4 weeks of blister packed medications at a time.

A couple of months ago I started using an on-line pharmacy, PocketPills, they are superb. They handle all of the billings and even have a lower deductible for some insurance companies.  
 
They deliver directly to your house or work.

Hi!  
 
I work at a pharmacy. If the company you deal with is Canada Life (PSHCP) there is a form called Dispense Fee Frequency Limit Exception Form.  
 
You & your Dr. need to fill it out and send it into the insurance company and then you will be able to process them monthly and still be covered. Especially with blister packs coz there is usually a lot of changes being made.  
 
As for the big box in the East end. They love to tell people that they can only get 1 month at a time!! ALL insurances allow you to fill 3 months at a time with a maximum of 100 days of medications allowed on hand at any time. I've had many of customers transfer in and were super shocked when they could get 3 months at a time. They are just trying to get as much $$$ out of you as possible. which is shady business if you ask me!!

Yes! That's the name of the form. Thank you!

When we wanted to know what each pharmacy was charging for their dispensing fees, we simply called and asked. They willingly told us. Of all the places called, the Walmart pharmacy had the lowest price at that time! I believe Super Thrifty or Safeway, cannot remember exactly which one, was the highest in Brandon at almost double Walmart's.

Yeah, that's us. Sunlife was a b*tch to deal with, and CanadaLife is even worse. Many things were cut back when the switch was made.  
 
The medications that have 30-day limits (like Vyvanse) I can get dispensed no problem without additional paperwork and the insurance covers most of it. The problem is when I'm trying to fill for more months with other meds.  
 
Say for example it's a $7 fee each and every time you fill a pres:cription, and it's $10 for them to count 30 pills. That's a $17 dispensing fee. My plan will only cover $15 (I'm inventing numbers because I don't remember the actual numbers).  
 
If I fill for 3 months, there's still the $7, but it's $20 to count 90 pills. That's $27. But my plan only covers $15. And I can only do that 5 times a year until they cover none of it.  
 
So effectively, they won't pay the full dispensing fee for filling 90 days, but only cover enough dispensing fee to allow me to fill it every 90 days. Either way, they are paying less. I know it seems trivial, but we have a lot of people on different meds in my household, and those fees really add up - and a plan that supposed to cover 80% (and used to routinely cover pretty close to that) doesn't even cover 50% a lot of the time.  
 
The plan stinks.

I feel this.  
 
Because certain medications are not covered at all by the province at certain doses, my two pres:criptions are broken down into two different doses. So really the pharmacy is filling four different meds for me.  
 
1x10mg/day = 30 capsules per month  
3x20mg/day = 90 capsules per month  
That's for a 70mg daily dose of one of my meds  
 
1x20mg/day =30 capsules per month  
1x50mg/day = 30 capsules per month  
For a 70 mg daily dose of my second med.  
 
So once a month for just myself, that's 180 capsules  
 
For my son his monthly meds work out to:  
60 pills  
60 capsules for one med  
30 capsules for another  
 
The dispensing fees add up when not fully covered is correct.