As of April 1, BC is the first province in Canada to cover contraception in its drug plan.
It’s through a $119 million dollar investment over three years through the Ministry of Health. It’ll provide coverage for things like oral hormone pills, contraceptive injections, and intrauterine devices (IUDs).
Not everything will be covered, though. The new plan excludes things like condoms, diaphragms, cervical caps, patches, rings, or sponges.
The goal of this plan is to provide better access to prescriptions to residents, with the hopes of removing a barrier regarding sexual and reproductive health.
PharmaCare will cover the full cost of the prescriptions. That should be of help as people used to have to pay up to $300 per year on hormonal pills, $180 per year for hormonal injections, and between $75 to $500 for intrauterine devices.
