Once thought to be simply a result of lifestyle choices, the science has caught up in obesity. Today, it is recognized as a complex, multifactorial, progressive, and relapsing disease that predisposes individuals to the development of medical complications, including type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and more recently, severe COVID-19 disease.
But the traditional view of obesity as a lifestyle choice continues to define the approach to coverage in private drug plans – unlike drugs used to manage diabetes and other common chronic diseases, anti-obesity drugs are often excluded from benefit plans or, where coverage is offered, grouped into a “lifestyle drugs” category with limited annual and/or lifetime maximums that result in inadequate coverage to support appropriate management of the disease
OBJECTIVES:In this session, participants will:
• Dispel the misunderstanding of obesity as a lifestyle choice and gain an understanding of how obesity contributes to the burden of chronic disease, and in particular diabetes.
• Learn about new anti-obesity drugs developed based on the science that considers the multifactorial nature of the disease.
• Explore options for incorporating responsible coverage of anti-obesity drugs into your chronic disease strategy. |
Ontario is now the eighth Canadian jurisdiction to expand the use of biosimilar drug treatments by adopting mandatory biosimilar transitioning. This switch will allow Ontario to invest more in new and innovative drug treatments and continue to grow the roster of publicly funded lifesaving drugs.
In this session, participants will gain a better understanding of the Ontario biosimilar transitioning plan, it’s impact to private drug plans and how insurers can integrate biosimilar strategies into their group benefit plans. |
Insurance fraud is a constant source of concern for plan sponsors, carriers, regulatory bodies and policy holders. Losses to insurance fraud in Canada run to millions of dollars annually. The cost of that fraud is passed along to consumers and puts the long term viability of benefits in jeopardy. Join Steve Richardson to discuss current fraud trends such as what insurance investigative teams are seeing in terms of fraud schemes as well as what the industry is doing to join forces and fight fraud as a united front. |