Clients and prospects often consult with us to learn where benefit costs are going from year to year.  We publish average increase on our website HERE and include the highs and lows in our April newsletter each year also available on our site HERE. 

It has been certainly tougher to predict, during the past 2 years, with COVID changing treatment habits (dental and parameds especially) and the higher than average increases in both use and charges we’ve seen in some sectors.  Dental has seen a 4.75% increase in the ODS fee guide and when trend and utilization is added to that inflation, we are seeing costs rise about 6%.  This report below is indicating that drug costs are not that high, which coincides with what we’ve seen of about 5% a year over the past 10 years or so.

While the overall private drug plan spend per member increased by 4.3 per cent in 2021, fewer plan members submitted claims and the per-claimant cost grew, according to Express Scripts Canada’s latest prescription drug trends report.

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