Reformulary Group has signed an agreement with the Great-West Life Assurance Co. to make its managed formulary available to the insurer’s plan sponsors. The formulary was…
Plan sponsors are faced with competing offers by insurance carriers, group managing general agents and third-party administrators, as each group promotes their own unique, yet…
The Great-West Life Assurance Co. is introducing a group benefits solution for small employers. Small employers, with fewer than 100 employees, make up 98 per cent…
Canadians for Fair Access to Medical Marijuana is urging the federal government to remove all taxes on medical cannabis. “More than 480,000 Canadian patients require…
During an employee’s gender transition, virtually every workplace benefit can come into play, including drug coverage, employee assistance programs, flexible working options, mental-health programs and…
With a baby due in March, Ashley Bangsund and her partner Nick Goodall didn’t think twice about whether to take the traditional 12 months of…
As a job title, ‘drug case manager’ can imply different things across the health-care and benefits industries. In Canada, a drug case manager may be…
Allstate Benefits is rolling out its critical illness coverage with medical care support services for Canadian employers and employees. When a plan member is diagnosed with…
Following the legalization of recreational cannabis in October 2018, most Canadian organizations created policies for employees on what is and isn’t allowed in the workplace. But one group…
More than half (60 per cent) of North American workforces said their employees are facing more mental health and substance abuse issues than they were…
The tentative agreement reached by the Canadian National Railway Co. and the United Steelworkers union has been approved by a national ratification vote. In addition…
While the Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association is in agreement with the general intent of the Ontario government’s proposed changes to the OHIP+ program,…
The Ontario government is proposing a rollback of OHIP+, which would restrict the free prescription drug coverage program to dependants under age 25 who aren’t…
As the federal government continues its consultations on a national pharmacare system, many questions are still up in the air. Will the new system follow a single-payer model?…
The union representing Canadian National Railway mechanics, electricians and apprentices in Canada says workers have ratified a new collective agreement that will provide improvements to…
The introduction of more flexible annuity options for capital accumulation plans and reform to prescription drug coverage are among the recommendations by the Canadian Life and Health…
Workplace stress is on the rise and employees are feeling the pressure, according to new research by Morneau Shepell Ltd. In a survey of employees…
Not all chiropractors practice according to the same philosophy. This is leading some in the benefits industry to believe more scrutiny is necessary when it comes to paramedical…
Something interesting happened this month as we examined the 2018 experience of two different plan sponsors in two separate geographies with different demographics. The only similarity between…
While insurers are consistently providing innovative plan design options for employers, that doesn’t detract from the reality that it’s a difficult time for employers, according to…
Accompass Inc., a division of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co., is appointing Sherry Shaw as a vice-president in its benefits and health practice. With 26 years of experience in…
While a new collective agreement negotiated between the British Columbia Nurses’ Union and the Health Employers Association of B.C. won’t bring significant changes, the round of negotiations did…
A Cape Breton call centre that abruptly shut down last month, tossing hundreds of people out of work, has hired back more than 90 per…
Canada should be considering the feasibility of a portable benefits plan for employees across the country, according to the Public Policy Forum. A portable benefits plan…
Fewer U.S. employees are reporting their employers are offering benefits, according to a new survey by the Employee Benefit Research Institute and Greenwald & Associates.…