“Canadian employers are increasingly seeking a safe and sustainable way to integrate medical cannabis into benefit plans,”
Surrey, British Columbia – GroupHEALTH Benefit Solutions®, one of Canada’s largest and most respected benefits providers, announced today that they have entered into an exclusive partnership with Zenabis Ltd., a licensed medical cannabis producer with one of the largest indoor cultivation footprints in Canada. This is the first agreement of its kind in Canada and sets a precedent for supplying affordable medical cannabis to Canadians. The partnership between GroupHEALTH and Delta, BC-based Zenabis brings two Canadian health care innovators together to provide a unique solution to meet Canadians’ needs.
GroupHEALTH’s Advisor Partners will work with each employer to determine whether the No Max Medical Cannabis Program is the right solution for their business and their employees. This component will be seamlessly integrated into benefit plan designs. Zenabis’ medical cannabis experts will work with plan members to verify the correct treatment and dosage, suggest appropriate solutions from their broad selection of products, and facilitate safe and quick delivery to plan members across Canada.
Pricing is on a set-fee basis and therefore, employers are protected from market or claims volatility. Prescriptions and purchases will be processed exclusively through Zenabis, giving plan members and plan sponsors access to safe and effective medical cannabis products and service from a reputable Canadian provider.
The No Maximum Medical Cannabis Program will be available to GroupHEALTH clients in fall, 2018.
Under the terms of the agreement, GroupHEALTH and Zenabis will offer Canadian employers the opportunity to provide comprehensive medical cannabis coverage in their employee benefit plans. GroupHEALTH’s new No Maximum Medical Cannabis Program gives plan members access to medically-appropriate amounts of cannabis without worrying about paying out-of-pocket for their treatment.
“Canadian employers are increasingly seeking a safe and sustainable way to integrate medical cannabis into benefit plans,” said Matt Houghton, GroupHEALTH CEO. “GroupHEALTH’s No Maximum Medical Cannabis Program is an innovative approach that provides employees with superior coverage, while ensuring that employers’ costs are contained; both of which are GroupHEALTH hallmarks.”
“Zenabis is proud to partner with GroupHEALTH Benefit Solutions to provide medical cannabis to its members,” said Kevin Coft, CEO of Zenabis. “As a trusted and reliable supplier of medical cannabis, Zenabis looks forward to offering a full array of medicinal products at the highest quality. Quite frankly – this is a landmark agreement and it positions our company as a leading provider of medicinal cannabis.”
Zenabis is now firmly positioned as a unique cannabis producer because it has recreational supply agreements with the provinces of BC, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, as well as medicinal agreements of this nature. “We cultivate our cannabis indoors and therefore, we are uniquely positioned to simultaneously grow medicinal products which require standardization as well as high-quality recreational varieties that will be distributed across Canada,” said Coft. He added “It allows us to pursue similar agreements with other health benefit providers – who will undoubtedly receive inquiries from their plan members.”
About Zenabis Ltd.
Zenabis Ltd. is a privately-held, cannabis company with one of the largest, federally licensed indoor medical cultivation footprints in Canada. Zenabis currently operates two licensed production facilities in British Columbia and New Brunswick, with a third coming shortly in Nova Scotia. These facilities encompass 660,000 square feet of indoor pharmaceutical grade cannabis production space across Canada. Zenabis operations are strategically positioned on Canada’s coasts, facilitating national distribution and access to international markets. Zenabis is currently working towards globally recognized EU GMP certifications.
Zenabis has one of the most experienced management teams in the industry, with an extensive background in retail consumer packaged goods, global pharmaceutical sales and manufacturing, quality assurance, and commercialized cultivation. Their growing team has more than two decades of experience in organic cultivation and distribution of herbs and nutraceutical products throughout the Americas, North Africa, and the Middle East. Their sales team has more than two decades in product development, commercialization, and retail and pharmaceutical sales including international distribution.
About GroupHEALTH
GroupHEALTH is transforming the way Canadians experience benefits by developing and delivering the most cost-effective benefit solutions to businesses across Canada. Leaders in employee benefits plans and group insurance, the GroupHEALTH Family of Companies has more than 500 employees in offices in Vancouver, Surrey, Calgary, Edmonton, Etobicoke, Woodbridge and Barrie. With annual premiums exceeding $500 million and over $5 billion in pension assets under management, GroupHEALTH supplies marketing leading employee benefit services to more than 4,000 client organizations across Canada in both the public and private sectors, supporting more than 426,000 Canadians and their families.
