well, I live in Canada. That's not how our insurance system works. All medications given in hospital are paid for by the government. Doctors don't need to have medications 'authorized' when they prescribe them in hospital.

Outside the hospital, people either pay for drugs out-of-pocket, or they have third-party drug plans. But our drug plans work differently. When I fill my prescriptions, they are all automatically covered under my plan. The insurance company doesn't 'authorize' it. If my doctor has prescribed me a medication, the insurance company covers it, except in rare instances where a certain drug is just flat-out not covered (for example, a few plans will not cover any birth control pills, period, but those plans are rare). But as far as I know, there is no authorization process the same way that there is in the States (where you have to show them your diagnosis, etc.).

The only thing is that some plans have co-pays, or only cover a certain percentage of the cost of drugs (e.g. 85% of the cost of any prescription). I have three different plans (I'm covered under my dad's plan, under my mom's plan, and under my university plan), so I have no co-pay at all. I pay $0 every month for my meds. And I never had to go through an authorization process for any of them.