Year: 2026

The Alberta government is working on enabling legislation and regulations for Bill 11, which received Royal Assent in late 2025 and has now announced an effective date of October 1, 2026 .

This will affect all employers with employees in the province of Alberta  that are covered by benefit plans.  There are primarily 2 areas that affects how benefits are deliver.

• “Payor of Last Resort”: This changes the provincial “pharamacare” solution (called Non-Group), that many use to protect from high cost drugs.  After October 1st,  the provincial public Non-Group health plan only pays after all private coverage is applied, making employer workplace benefits, and individual insurance plans, the primary payer for drug and some supplemental health claims.
• Elimination of  Benefit Termination of drugs due to age: This change means group benefits plans can not reduce, terminate, or modify prescription drug and supplemental health coverage for active employees simply because they turn 65.

The vast majority of our clients are situated and employed Ontario, but we do not see the provinces your employees live in, so it may be applicable (especially with remote work).

If you have Alberta employees on your benefit plan we may have to make changes to comply with the law .  Please alert us ASAP

https://www.alberta.ca/supporting-a-world-class-health-care-system

Please join us on Saturday, June 20th, for an inspiring afternoon as we share updates on HATN’s initiatives in Mali and The Gambia. We are especially excited to provide an update on the Health Centre in The Gambia. After three challenging years, we are thrilled to say the project is now in its final stages of completion.

This year’s event will also feature live music by Van Mills, a popular local acoustic duo from the Stouffville area. Led by Dave and Van Mills, they perform a great mix of classic and contemporary rock favourites, sure to make for an enjoyable afternoon.

We look forward to welcoming the friends and family of HATN as we come together to celebrate the difference we can make together.

To help our chefs plan the menu, we encourage everyone to purchase tickets early. 

BUY TICKETS HERE

Ontario employers are  required to post many policies in their workplace.  Littler had been good enough in the past to produce a list (and sources) to make it easier for employers to stay compliant.  We have shared that each April or so (see link below) but it has NOT been updated since 2022.

Ontario Requirements for Mandatory Policies, Training, Postings and Information Sheets

HR Compliance Audit

If you may be cutting back on staff, EI may keep them a bit more “whole” than they have in the past , making changes to help employees affected by economic slow downs. 

The site below provides more details.

Before you start receiving benefits, there is usually 1 week you won’t be paid called the waiting period. It’s like the deductible that you pay for other types of insurance.

Under the temporary measure, the waiting period is waived for all new claims for EI benefits that start between March 30, 2025 and April 11, 2026.

FULL DETAILS

As employers prepare T4’s, they can make like a bit easier for staff.  By reporting the employees contributions to the health and dental premium (NOT life or LTD premium) in Box 85, you are helping staff make sure they get the medical Expense Tax Credit (METC) where available. 

By reporting the employee share in Box 85 on T4’s, you avoid employees being audited for proof of contributions (and you having to write out letters for them). 

You can find more about the history of box 85 and it’s intent here… https://www.canadianmoneysaver.ca/blog/box-85-is-my-box

The CRA info is below, or ask your accountant.  https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/tax/businesses/topics/payroll/benefits-allowances/private-health-services-plan-premiums.html

Mainstay shares our clients average renewal increases on our website and has done so since 2006.  We also share the biggest increases and decreases in our April Newsletter each year. This information helps you to understand how your plan fits in relation to others.  Our average bottom line rate increase  (including aging) has worked out to be ONLY 4% a a year for the past 20 years (NOT 7 or 8% as noted below).  When you remove the aging effect it’s closer to 2.5%,  so just ahead of inflation, and very sustainable. 

Please read the following article and take it with a grain of salt.  We manage plans to keep costs under controls and when there are issues like fraud, or high cost drugs, we jump on finding solutions to keep pricing fair.  We also use plan designs that minimize misuse and abuse (mandatory generic, caps and reasonable and customary limitations etc) to keep your plan healthy.

Aon’s 2026 Global Medical Trend Rates Report projects a 2026 medical trend of 8.3 percent for Canada, up from 7.4 percent in 2025, while general inflation edges up only slightly from 1.9 percent to 2.1 percent. That leaves a net medical trend of 6.2 percentage points above inflation in 2026. 

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