On Sept. 20, the 2018 Halifax Benefits Summit featured insightful sessions on benefits, health and wellness and drug plan trends. With population numbers struggling in the Maritimes, the conference looked at how companies can ensure they’re providing plan members with the best, most competitive benefits options in order to attract and retain talent. Here are some of the highlights of […]
Perceptions of pharmacists are behind the times. While plan members, and even plan sponsors, may see the role of the pharmacist as primarily counting pills, there’s much more that goes into filling a prescription, delegates heard at the 2018 Halifax Benefits Summit in September. This includes keeping up to date with medications, talking with patients and thinking […]
Despite significant awareness and discussion around what ails Canada’s health-care system, little has changed, said Rose Dipchand at the 2018 Halifax Benefits Summit on Sept. 20. Substantial economic challenges remain, the population continues to get older and unhealthier, wait times are still increasing and there’s poor adherence to treatment, noted Pharmasave’s regional manager of professional […]
Due to the elimination of the unfunded liability of Ontario’s Workplace Safety and Insurance Board’s insurance fund, premium rates for employers will be reduced by almost 30 per cent. Beginning Jan. 1, 2019, the reduction will help employers save money, increase investment and create more jobs, resulting in a $1.45 billion injection into the Ontario economy, according […]
A coalition comprised of dozens of federal and provincial health-care organizations, including providers, patient groups, academics, health practitioner unions and professional associations, have teamed up to create a set of principles for national pharmacare in Canada. First, the coaltion believes pharmacare should work as a clear extension of Canada’s current universal health-care system, bringing pharmaceutical services in […]
Rural and suburban postal workers across the country celebrated Thursday after an arbitrator ordered Canada Post to pay them more — much more — as part of a long-awaited pay equity decision. For a majority of the Crown agency’s mostly-female rural and suburban carriers, known as RSMCs, the ruling translates into a 25-per-cent pay hike, plus some increased […]
Eighty-five per cent of Canadians said mental-health services are among the most underfunded in the health-care system, according to a new survey commissioned by the Canadian Mental Health Association. The survey accompanies a national policy paper, which calls for new legislation to address unmet mental-health needs and bring mental-health care into balance with physical health care. It also found 86 […]
Among American employees enrolled in an employer-sponsored health plan, just seven per cent pay no deductible, according to a new survey by the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans. Among those with single coverage, nearly half (46 per cent) of respondents pay a deductible between $1,000 and $2,999, followed by $500 to $999 (19 per cent), under […]
The results of the ongoing renegotiations of the North American Free Trade Agreement could have an impact on how much Canadians pay for their medications in the future, according to one expert. In an article originally published by not-for-profit media outlet the Conversation, Joel Lexchin, an associate professor of family and community medicine at the University of Toronto, pointed out that the […]
HumanaCare has completed the integration and re-launch of its virtual health platform TranQool. The platform, which the employee health services company acquired in May 2018, will be available to more than 1.3 million Canadians through partnerships with HumanaCare, and allows individuals to access virtual counselling and therapy services. Read: HumanaCare acquires virtual health-care platform “We are excited to […]