Alberta Employer Avoids an Estimated $120,000 as Specialty Drugs Drive a Third of Drug Plan Spending

Quikcard and ClaimSecure’s Formulary Protect program found outside funding for 12 specialty drug claims in a single group within months of onboarding

EDMONTON, ALBERTA, CANADA, October 20, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — An Alberta employer that joined Quikcard‘s benefits administration in January 2026 has avoided an estimated $120,000 in high-cost drug claims in a matter of months, after 12 specialty drug claims for the 205-employee group were redirected to other sources of funding. The result comes as specialty drugs, defined as medications costing more than $10,000 a year, take up a growing share of what Canadian employers pay for drug coverage.

According to the TELUS Health 2026 Drug Data Trends and National Benchmarks Report, specialty drugs are used by 2.1 percent of private drug plan claimants but account for 33.9 percent of total eligible drug spending. The number of these drugs has also grown sharply. In 2005, roughly 125 drugs in Canada cost more than $10,000 a year. By 2025, that figure had passed 960, with some treatments costing up to $2.4 million.

For small and mid-sized employers, a single specialty drug claim can drive up premiums at the next renewal. The usual options are to absorb the increase, shop for a new carrier, or introduce a drug cap that limits coverage for every employee, not only the one taking the expensive medication.

“Earlier this year we onboarded a group, and within a few months the Formulary Protect Coverage Navigation team found alternative funding 12 times for that group alone,” said Chris Biddeson, Vice President, Business Development at Quikcard. “At the $10,000 minimum per drug, that’s a conservative estimate of $120,000 annual savings for one employer alone. The real figure could be considerably higher, depending on what each of those drugs costs.”

Formulary Protect, developed by ClaimSecure, removes drugs costing more than $10,000 a year from a plan’s standard drug list. A dedicated coverage navigation team then works with the employee to find funding elsewhere, through provincial drug programs, manufacturer patient assistance programs, a spouse’s plan, or a combination of these. The team handles the application paperwork and coordinates with the employee’s physician and pharmacy throughout.

Since its launch in 2016, the program has found alternative funding in about 95 percent of cases nationally. Because specialty drugs make up roughly 1 percent of prescriptions, the chance of a claim going unfunded works out to about 5 in every 10,000 prescriptions across a plan.

“Group health plans don’t necessarily need to be the financial safety net for high-cost specialty drugs,” said Dave Wowchuk, Vice President Sales at ClaimSecure. “Building the formulary drug list is the easy part. The real work is finding funding for each person, province by province, and that only comes from experience.”

Quikcard HSA has published a guide for employers explaining who pays when an employee needs a high-cost drug, what happens in the rare cases where no funding is found, and the options available at renewal. The guide, including video of the Alberta case, is available at https://www.quikcard.com/high-cost-drug-coverage/.

Formulary Protect is available to employers across Canada, excluding Quebec.

About Quikcard
Quikcard is an Edmonton-based health benefits administrator that has served Canadian businesses for more than 35 years. The company administers health spending accounts, wellness spending accounts and group benefits for employers across Canada, excluding Quebec, and has partnered with ClaimSecure for more than 20 years. Learn more at www.quikcard.com.

About ClaimSecure
ClaimSecure, a subsidiary of Canada Life, provides health and dental claims management and benefits administration services to employers across Canada.

Chris Biddeson
Quikcard HSA
+1 800-232-1997
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$120,000 Saved: How One Company Handled 12 High-Cost Drug Claims

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