New federal legislation around pharmaceutical patents will impose significant costs on public and private drug plans, the parliamentary budget officer is predicting. The legislation would have cost drug plans and consumers an extra $392 million in 2015 had it been in place that year, the report, released in late April, estimates. Of that, $214 million […]
April has been a busy month for the world of defined benefit pension plans. In recent weeks, both the OPSEU Pension Trust and the Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology pension plan have announced plans to offer new defined benefit options to other employers. OPTrust is further along in its journey, since its new offering, called […]
Since Ontario’s youth pharmacare program took effect on Jan. 1, the number of drug claims for those under the age of 25 has been cut in half compared to the first three months of 2017, translating into average savings of four per cent for private drug plans, according to Telus Health. Its annual research, which […]
Ontario’s move to expand its youth pharmacare program to seniors in 2019 could be a significant win for plan sponsors offering retiree benefits. “A company would see significant balance-sheet reduction and lower accounting expense, as well as lower cash costs,” says Nabil Merali, senior vice-president and Ontario market leader for health and benefits at Aon Hewitt. […]
While Wednesday’s provincial budget in Ontario offered details on the inclusion of seniors in the government’s pharmacare program, Ontarians over age 65 aren’t the only cohort set to benefit from expanded drug coverage. Through the introduction of the Ontario drug and dental program, all Ontarians will be eligible for some coverage in those areas if they aren’t already […]
The number of Ontarians using the Trillium drug program increased threefold between the beginning of 2000 and the end of 2016, according to a new study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal. Between 2000 and 2015, the number of overall Trillium recipients increased 176,299 from 55,571. During the same time frame, the proportion of plan beneficiaries […]
With fraud prevention month underway, just how big of a problem is the issue for plan sponsors? “As an industry, we estimate that benefits fraud is costing . . . hundreds of millions in terms of the impact, so certainly not a small problem,” says Karen Voin, vice-president of group benefits and anti-fraud at the Canadian Life […]
Ontario’s political parties are busy making promises about key benefits issues as they prepare for this June’s election campaign, with the governing Liberals announcing a plan expand the OHIP+ pharmacare program to seniors and the New Democratic Party proposing action on dental care. On Tuesday, just days after the Ontario NDP pledged universal pharmacare and dental coverage should […]
British Columbia is expanding treatment coverage for chronic hepatitis C to everyone in the province and has added a new drug to the province’s PharmaCare formulary. “In years past, a hepatitis C diagnosis was a stressful and lifelong struggle,” said Health Minister Adrian Dix, in a news release. “I’m pleased to share that, as of today, anyone […]
The new five-week parental sharing benefit announced in the 2018 federal budget is causing some concern among employers. Commenting on Benefits Canada’s website, Asha Mohammed, director of human resources and payroll at Centennial College’s Tribute Communities, asked: “Why a new leave again? This is such an expense to employers who are already stressed with all the leaves.” Dan Kelly, […]