Manulife Financial Corp. is rolling out its Vitality health and wellness app to all its group benefits plan members after initially launching it with its own employees. The Vitality program, which connects with wearable devices, including smartwatches, fitness bracelets and smartphones, is designed to encourage users to make healthy choices and rewards them with gift […]
No matter the size of a business, nothing affects the bottom line more than declining employee productivity. Employees can be the best and brightest parts of an organization, but if they’re sitting sedentary at their desk for eight hours a day with no stimulation, even the sharpest minds become sluggish and productivity plummets. Left unchecked, this can decline into a […]
The federal government’s effort to rein in the cost of reimbursing veterans for their medical marijuana appears to have failed as new figures show Ottawa shelled out a record $75 million in the last fiscal year. And that’s only the beginning: the Veterans Affairs Canada figures show the government is on track to spend nearly […]
Hub International Ltd. is acquiring Mississauga, Ont.-based employee benefits consulting firm GMS Insurance Inc. Last year, the global insurance brokerage acquired GMS’s Kitchener, Ont. operations. The company said owning both entities would allow it to enhance its services to southwestern Ontario and greater Toronto area clients. Read: Hub International acquiring assets of Clarity Benefits Group […]
Benefits consultancy the Leslie Group Ltd. is partnering with health-care technology company Acorn Biolabs Inc. to offer onsite live cell collection to employees. Initially, the consultancy offered the service to its own employees before expanding it to its plan sponsor clients. Cell collection is important for stem cell therapy and other regenerative medicines, noted a press release. […]
Canadian insurers paid out $98 billion in benefits in 2018, an increase of seven per cent over 2017, according to the Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association’s annual fact book. Similar to previous years, this was led by retirement benefits from annuities ($49 billion), health benefits for prescription drugs and extended health providers like dentists […]
Teladoc Inc. is partnering with Johnston Group to roll out its telemedicine services to 30,000 small- and mid-size employers in Canada. The service, which includes around-the-clock access to medical care regardless of location, will be available to all organizations that belong to the Chambers of Commerce group insurance plan. Teladoc and Johnston Group also collaborate […]
Mercer is appoints Dr. Andrew Halpert as clinical innovation leader for health in the U.S. and Canada. In the role, Halpert will be responsible for leading Mercer’s clinical consulting offerings and health strategy development. With 30 years of experience in the industry, he was previously the senior director for clinical and network solutions at Collective Health and […]
Benefits Canada is proud to announce the finalists of the 2019 Workplace Benefits Awards. This year’s entries set records in many categories, with a total of nearly 100 nominations. The winners will be announced at a luncheon event on Oct. 17 at the Arcadian Loft in Toronto. Buy your tickets to this not-to-miss event today. This year’s finalists […]
As the labour dispute between Western Forest Products Inc. and United Steelworkers Local 1-1937 heads into its third month, tensions are running high over health benefits. Employees who are members of the Steelworkers chapter have been on strike since July 1, 2019. The proposed collective agreement in question includes concessions on a number of issues, […]