What’s it like to work while dealing with an autoimmune disease? At the 2016 Chronic Disease at Work conference on June 22 in Toronto, Dawn Richards, who has rheumatoid arthritis, and Zal Press, who has Crohn’s disease, shared their stories about working with autoimmune disorders. Richards said health appointments began to dictate her life following […]
In Canada, many payers think about the price of medication alone and don’t consider the costs of productivity loss if employees don’t use a drug, according to Professor Aslam Anis of the School of Population and Public Health at the University of British Columbia. At the 2016 Face-to-Face Drug Plan Management conference in Vancouver in […]
Between 2010 and 2014, the Alberta School Employee Benefit Plan’s spending on specialty drugs increased by 71 per cent. When it came to those members taking specialty drugs, 90 per cent of the spend was for chronic therapies. The findings led the organization to rethink and redesign its benefits offerings. Shandy Reed, division manager for […]
The time to act is now: that was the collective feeling at the 2016 Face-to-Face Drug Plan Management conference on May 26 in Vancouver. As plan sponsors grapple with an influx of costly new drugs, employee non-compliance issues and a lack of case management, panellists at the conference discussed the best ways to help employers […]
Almost nine in 10 plan sponsors are concerned about the rising costs of their drug plans over the next two to three years, according to Benefits Canada research. At the 2016 Face-to-Face Drug Plan Management Forum in Vancouver in May, a panel discussed what’s driving these costs, where plan sponsors are finding savings and where […]
With plan sponsors concerned about the sustainability of their drug plans, a panel of experts at the 2016 Face-to-Face Drug Plan Management Forum in Vancouver discussed how employers can get their plans on track to be sustainable for the long term. The panel included Kevin West, vice-president at Innomar Strategies; Joe Farago, executive director, health-care […]
Defined contribution pension plans put a significant onus on individuals to make decisions about their own retirement investments, something that leaves financial outcomes vulnerable to their behaviours. At the 2016 DC Plan Summit in Montreal, Meir Statman, a professor of finance at the Leavey School of Business at Santa Clara University, spoke about how plan […]
How has the retirement landscape changed over time and what can we expect in the future? Not surprisingly, people are living longer and, in many cases, are staying in the workforce longer than in the past. But they’re not taking their pensions at a later age, something that, when combined with other factors, can affect […]
Decumulation is a growing and challenging issue for defined contribution pension plan sponsors. But one plan sponsor, the University of British Columbia faculty pension plan, has been doing it from the get-go. “Right from the inception of the plan, we have provided annuity options to members at retirement, so the members, if they choose, can […]
At the Public Employees Pension Plan in Saskatchewan, a key focus is on treating plan members like customers to help improve their outcomes. “If we can give them a good customer experience, it’s going to help everything down the road,” said John Hallett, assistant director of pension programs at the Public Employees Benefits Agency, during […]