British Columbia is the first province in Canada to make prescription birth control free to its residents. Starting April 1, 2023, PharmaCare will cover the full cost of many prescription contraceptives.
These include:
- Oral contraceptives
- Hormonal IUDs
- Copper IUDs
- Hormone implants
- Hormone injections
- Emergency oral contraceptives (“morning-after pill”)
Coverage is for the contraceptive products, regardless of the clinical reasons for the prescription (e.g. prevention of osteoporosis).
Products must be dispensed in a pharmacy for coverage as all products need to be entered in PharmaNet (by a pharmacist) to be covered. As a result, oral contraceptives and IUDs provided to patients at clinics will not be covered by PharmaCare. Patients will need to go to the pharmacy to have their prescription filled for it to be covered by PharmaCare. Physicians will need to consider this when booking appointments to insert IUDs and contraceptive implants.
Morning-after pills (Backup Plan Onestep, Contingency Plan, Plan B) are over-the-counter medications. No prescription is needed for them to be covered by PharmaCare.
Patients do not have to register for coverage or fill out any forms. They can simply discuss contraception and obtain a prescription from their doctor. They can then present the prescription with their BC Services Card to a pharmacy, and a pharmacist will fill the prescription.
Pharmacists may switch contraceptive prescriptions to products that PharmaCare partially or fully covers. Pharmacists will also be able to prescribe contraceptives starting later this spring. They may not charge patients a fee for the dispensing, assessment, or any other action associated with filling the prescription.
For more information and to view a full list of covered contraceptives, click here.