Canada and Type 1 Diabetes

About Type 1 diabetes in Canada

Canada—the birthplace of Fredrick Banting and, therefore, insulin. Canada’s population is 36 million people, and the most recent data says that 300,000 of these Canadians live with type 1 diabetes—around 1 percent of the population. As with the rest of the world, the incidence of type 1 is increasing. According to the International Diabetes Foundation, the rate of type 1 incidence is increasing by 3 percent annually for children under the age of 14.

Canada is known worldwide for having “free healthcare.” However, the Canadian healthcare system is a little bit more complicated than this. If you have type 1, physician and specialist visits, hospitalization, and most lab and diagnostics tests are covered. However, different provinces have different laws when it comes to the rest of healthcare coverage because of the way that funding is divvied up. Some provinces will pay for insulin pumps and other diabetes management supplies, but not all. Employers in Canada sometimes offer insurance benefits, and this might include prescriptions.