PsyCan, a not-for-profit trade association for the legal Canadian psychedelic medicine industry, has praised Alberta Blue Cross for its move to expand its insurance coverage for psychedelic-assisted therapy (PaT).
Alberta is the first province to regulate psychedelic-assisted therapy for mental health treatments since 2022. Alberta Blue Cross stated that claims for psychedelic therapy in Alberta will be eligible for reimbursement under the drug and psychology benefits of its plan members.
“We welcome Alberta Blue Cross as the first major provincial insurer to cover Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy in all of its forms,” said Philippe Lucas, president of Alberta-based psychedelic clinic group SABI Mind.
“Psychedelic treatments such as ketamine-assisted psychotherapy are proving to be safe and cost-effective interventions for patients with poor treatment success with traditional mental health therapies, but they remain out of reach to many that could benefit,” he added.
PsyCan asserted that private payers should be allowing their patients to access drug and psychology benefits for the treatment of mental health disorders as certain entities like the FDA have been assessing new drug applications for molecules such as psilocybin, MDMA, LSD, and DMT.
“With Alberta Blue Cross’ significant client base of first responders and healthcare practitioners, mental health conditions – especially coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic – are a huge concern,” said Lian Bedard, PsyCan coordinator.
Bedard noted that peer-reviewed health economic modelling had indicated that MDMA-assisted therapy for cases of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder as well as Psilocybin therapy for Depression had showed competitive or improved costing in contrast to frontline therapies.
“We call on other insurers, both in the public and private sector to follow the example set by Alberta Blue Cross,” said Bedard.
Lucas added: “We hope the leadership shown by Alberta Blue Cross is the starting point to increased access for all patients all across Canada that could benefit from psychedelic-assisted therapies.”
PsyCan is the first national-level trade association for the legal psychedelic medicine and therapy sector in the world.
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