We haven't checked Ozempic prices in British Columbia yet. BC PharmaCare covers Ozempic through Special Authority for type 2 diabetes, up to the 1 mg weekly pen, so for other uses you pay the pharmacy's quote.
BC PharmaCare
Partial coverageSpecial Authority: type 2 diabetes after inadequate control on maximum tolerated metformin. Covered up to a 1 mg weekly pen; the 2 mg dose is under review.We earn a commission when you sign up with some providers through our links. It never changes our prices or how we rank providers. How we rank
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BC PharmaCare is the province’s public drug plan. It pays for some drugs only through Special Authority, an approval your prescriber requests before the pharmacy bills the plan. Semaglutide is in that group.
PharmaCare’s criteria are type 2 diabetes with inadequate blood sugar control on the highest metformin dose a person tolerates, with a three-month metformin trial recommended first. Approval has no end date. PharmaCare covers either semaglutide or a DPP-4 inhibitor, not both together.
BC’s page limits the plan to a pen delivering up to 1 mg weekly. The 2 mg dose is listed as under review. PharmaCare states that using two 0.5 mg pens to make a 1 mg dose is not covered. If your prescriber wants a 2 mg dose, you’d pay for that pen yourself for now.
The monograph describes pen strengths of 0.25 mg or 0.5 mg, 1 mg, and 2 mg doses. Your prescriber chooses the dose.
BC also has Fair PharmaCare, an income-based plan. We haven’t read its current rules or whether Ozempic bought outside the Special Authority criteria counts toward it, so we don’t describe how it works or give figures.
Without a plan paying, you pay the drug cost, the markup and the pharmacy’s dispensing fee. We haven’t checked BC pharmacy prices or fees for Ozempic yet.
Ask two or three BC pharmacies for the pen price and the dispensing fee separately, and ask whether your prescriber has submitted Special Authority. We haven’t confirmed whether BC pharmacists can adapt or renew a GLP-1 prescription. A physician or nurse practitioner remains the route we can document.
Yes for type 2 diabetes, after a Special Authority request from your prescriber confirms the criteria. It isn't listed for weight management.
It is PharmaCare's approval step. Your prescriber submits a request, often online, and PharmaCare confirms you meet the criteria before it pays.
Not yet. PharmaCare's page says the 2 mg dose is under review, and coverage is limited to the 1 mg weekly pen.
PharmaCare says that is not covered, so ask your prescriber and pharmacist which pen to prescribe.