The growing use of specialty medications among plan members continued to drive the increase in plan sponsors’ drug plan costs last year, well eclipsing the increase in traditional drug spending, according to Telus Health. Canadian plan sponsors’ drug spending on insured plan members between the ages of 25 and 64 increased 3.6 per cent in […]
Last February, Carolyne Eagan’s mother was suddenly stricken with an excruciatingly painful condition called trigeminal neuralgia, which prevented her from eating, talking or drinking without triggering a flare of pain in her head. Eagan gathered up her mom’s medications and got into the ambulance with her, feeling increasingly distressed as she wasn’t able to answer […]
Canadians have weathered two waves of the coronavirus pandemic and are now working their way through the third. But what happens when the fourth wave — of psychological trauma, economic injury and burnout — arrives? One half of Canadians said they’d experienced worsening mental-health challenges during the pandemic, according to an April 2020 poll by […]
“What if I told you at least one in four members of your benefits plan has an unresolved health risk?” asked Radpay, the president of HumanisRx, during Benefits Canada‘s 2021 Tech Insights: Spring Edition conference. In a study in partnership with Munich Re, HumanisRx reviewed the insurer’s claims history experience for 85,000 plan members and […]
The same technology advancements that allowed for hyper-personalized service in sectors from banking to food delivery were already in the process of remaking health-care access and delivery. And then the coronavirus pandemic hit, quickly accelerating the acceptance of digital health care in Canada. Surveys have shown 60 per cent of health-care visits are now taking […]
Plan member challenges — from uncertainty about what their benefits plan covers to mundane issues such as struggling with passwords and difficulty accessing their benefits portal — become human resources concerns and create additional work for plan sponsors. That’s what Canada Life is attempting to address with its new My Canada Life at Work mobile-friendly […]
It all started with a mechanical bull and too much tequila. Mike McClenahan wasn’t initially sold on virtual physiotherapy when he first met with Phzio, a telerehabilitation provider, back in 2018. But after a client’s Christmas party at a country and western bar that involved too much liquid courage, the then-managing partner of Benefits by […]
When Leona Guenette comes down with a bad case of bronchitis, she knows exactly what antibiotics she needs. Normally for Guenette, the pension and benefits administrator of the Sagkeeng First Nation, that meant scheduling an appointment with her local doctor to get a prescription. But as of June 2020, when Sagkeeng and 350 other First […]
Employees of Rogers Communications Inc. don’t have to look far if they’re searching for new home or car insurance — their employer has multiple discounts available for them. Beyond its traditional benefits package, the company has a website where it “capitalize[s] on the relationships we [hold] as an organization” by providing a range of discounts […]
Diabetes care has tended to focus on achieving adequate glucose levels — but the real goal should be maintaining those levels over time, said Alex Abitbol, endocrinologist and assistant medical director of LMC Healthcare, during Benefits Canada’s 2021 Chronic Disease at Work conference in late February. “Much of the guidelines, much of the discussions amongst […]