Smothered by their collective insurance scheme that can cost hundreds of dollars a month, more and more workers are now satisfied with minimum protection to save money, learned The press.
“The cost of our insurance is made staggering,” says the beneficiaries at the integrated health and social services center (CISSS) of Lanaudière Virginie Lebrun. The single -parent mother spends more than $ 300 per month as a bonus for her two children and her.
Photo Hugo-Sébastien Aubert, the press
Virginie Lebrun
“It’s very expensive. This is the equivalent of a working day per pay that it is almost necessary to put just to pay insurance, “says the one who has worked in the health network since 2006.” The cost of insurance only increases, but we are taken by the throat because we have no choice. »»
The cost of drugs is increasingly heavy in the workers’ budget, notes the Federation of Health and Social Services (FSSS-CSN), and many have reached their maximum capacity to pay.
“In recent years, the cost of collective insurance has been a huge financial burden for our members. For some of them, this charge can sometimes represent up to 20 % of their gross annual income, “wrote the FSSS-CSN in a letter to the Minister of Health, Christian Dubé, in May.
The average salary of its 110,000 health network members is about $ 50,000 per year.
Result: more and more members are turning to minimum coverage in order to reduce their expenses. In 2016, 26 % of the members held minimum coverage. In 2025, this is now 49 %.
This is the option chosen by the housekeeper at the Center Hospitalier Universitaire (CHU) in Quebec Steve Boutin. Its coverage allows it a 68 % reimbursement on the drugs on the Quebec Health Insurance Régie list (RAMQ), after a $ 5 franchise per medication.
Even with the minimum protection, the invoice remains heavy for its budget: with a net salary of $ 1,157 every two weeks, it spends a little more than $ 174 for family group insurance, or more than $ 4,500 per year. “We have to make choices. We are not going to dine at the restaurant, then we do not pay shows in the Videotron center either. »»
“An arbitrary gap”
The increase in regimes costs is mainly caused by two elements, according to the FSSS-CSN: increasingly expensive drugs and pharmacists’ fees which are higher for people covered by a private collective insurance diet than those covered with the public by the RAMQ.
The fees, the costs billed by pharmacists for the preparation of medicines and the patient service, are often much higher for people covered by a private diet, for the same service and the same medication.
“This arbitrary gap constitutes a real injustice,” said the FSSS-CSN.
If a patient is provided by the RAMQ, the pharmacist has a fixed amount of $ 10.36 in fees. However, there is no maximum amount that can be billed by pharmacists when they deal with a prescription for a person covered by a private group insurance scheme. Pharmacies allowed themselves to charge more than $ 100,000 for a single patient, as reported The press in 2023.
Read the editorial “Pharmacy: fees of $ 100,000 … for a single patient”
These fees “must reflect the complexity of the medication and the extent of the surveillance which must be carried out,” says the Quebec Association of Owner Pharmacists (AQPP). The Code of Ethics of Pharmacists of Quebec specifies however that the pharmacist must request “a fair and reasonable price” for his pharmaceutical services. In the case of excess, a complaint can be filed with the Order of Pharmacists of Quebec.
Make your pharmacy
The household interview Steve Boutin now compares pharmacies before making purchases, because fees of fees vary considerably from one establishment to another. “By going around pharmacies, we see that some people inflate their prices. Insurers, like Beneva and Desjardins, now offer their members an online service that compares the price of medicines in different pharmacies.
The FSSS-CSN is pressing the Ministry of Health and Social Services (MSSS) to align the fees of pharmacists between private regimes and the public regime, so that everyone pays the same price for the same service.
Called to react, the MSSS says it is aware of the gap between public and private schemes and stresses that it has launched work “in order to better document the situation,” said Marie-Pierre Blier, media relations. “According to the results of this work, the appropriate measures to be implemented will be determined, if applicable. »»
How does the price of medication affect the insured?
The cost of drugs has a direct impact on collective insurance premiums, since they are based on the total cost of complaints from members of recent years. Note: all Quebecers must be covered by medication insurance. This coverage can come from the public scheme (RAMQ) or from a private regime, often offered by an employer. When a person is eligible for a private regime, they have the obligation to join it and must register their spouse and children. The public regime, on the other hand, is intended for those who do not have access to a private regime, such as some self -employed workers, unemployed or seniors.
