The 20th anniversary of The Sanofi Canada Healthcare Survey, Canada’s premier survey on health benefit plans, brings to light that there is still much opportunity to learn from and improve employee health benefit plans. This year’s survey highlights that barely half (53%) of employees say their health benefit plan meets their needs extremely or very well, down from 73% in 1999 when the question was first asked.

The latest CompassRx report of public drug plan expenditures shows that Canadian plans are getting squeezed by rising drug costs.

The annual report, which analyses drug spending trends for 11 publicly funded plans, showed a $1-billion spike in prescription drug spending during the 2015-2016 period. That brought total documented expenditures up to $11.3 billion, 79.7% of which was covered by the plans. The rest was paid by beneficiaries either out-of-pocket or through private drug plans.

Often, employers and prospective employees are eager to start their relationship.  However, this eagerness can result in serious consequences, usually for the employer.

Ontario’s Ministry of Labour released a report today that makes 173 recommendations on provincial workplace standards, including employees’ entitlements to benefits.

A B.C. company has scored a partial victory in its battle against a ruling that ordered it to pay $90,000 in damages to an employee who lost out on long-term disability benefits.

Mercer, a global consulting company, today predicted that employers’ health benefit costs will increase by 130% by 2025 due to expensive specialty drugs, higher rates of chronic and mental illness, increased fraud and rising health pooling costs.

If the cost of the drug is half a million dollars per year or a million dollars per year, you can see that maybe nobody but Bill Gates or a few others can afford that.

Later this month, Premier Kathleen Wynne’s government will release a report expected to recommend sweeping reforms to the province’s employment laws. Sick pay is one of the items being reviewed, and advocacy groups are urging the Liberals to mandate seven paid sick days per year for all full-time employees. 

The cost of health benefits for Canadian employers will increase by 9.4 per cent in 2017, according to Willis Towers Watson’s annual global medical trends survey.

Ontario’s New Democrats are promising to bring in a $475-million pharmacare plan if they win the election next year, which they say could be introduced without program cuts or new taxes — although they’re not ruling them out.

They say the plan would cover 125 medications deemed essential, including those for high blood pressure, asthma, diabetes, allergies, migraines, mental health conditions and HIV, as well as birth control.

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said more than two million Ontarians currently have no drug coverage.