A record number of benefits plan members are dealing with extreme levels of daily stress, according to the 2025 Benefits Canada Healthcare Survey.
The 27th edition of the survey, which polled 1,000 Canadian group benefits plan members and 500 plan sponsors earlier this year, found two in five (39 per cent) members said they experience high to extreme stress on a daily basis, the continuation of a now three-year trend in elevated stress levels and the highest share in the past five years.
“I’m not really surprised when I look at these numbers — uncertainty breeds anxiety,” said Michael Kondrat, director of sales for Ontario, Western and Atlantic Canada in group insurance, sales and partner experience at Beneva Inc., during the launch of the the survey at Benefits Canada’s 2025 Toronto Benefits Summit on Tuesday.
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Plan members lived through the uncertainty of the coronavirus pandemic, followed by geopolitical instability, a rash of return-to-office mandates and a persistent cost-of-living crisis, he noted. “We’re talking about runaway inflation, where salaries have not kept up . . . and it’s [impacting] the staples of life, not luxury items. . . . If you’re struggling to understand how you’re going to feed your kids, it’s a very anxiety-inducing situation.”
Looking further at demographics, the survey found newcomers to Canada, those living with diagnosed or undiagnosed chronic pain, those with caregiving responsibilities and plan members aged 18 to 34 were among the most likely to be dealing with elevated stress levels.
Indeed, nearly half (49 per cent) of respondents aged 18 to 34 reported high to extreme daily stress. Also speaking during the panel, Barbara Martinez, national practice leader for drug solutions at the Canada Life Assurance Co., said this finding squares with what the insurer has seen in its own internal data.
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The survey also found fewer than a third (31 per cent) of plan members said their mental health was excellent or very good, down from 41 per cent in 2024. While more plan members described their mental health as good (48 per cent, up from 42 per cent last year), the percentage of those who said their mental health was poor also increased (21 per cent, up from 17 per cent).
Kondrat speculated that years of efforts to reduce the stigma around speaking up about mental health could be contributing to these numbers.
Depression drugs were the most significant driver of drug costs for plan members aged 30 and younger, said Martinez, adding the insurer also saw a growth in mental-health practitioner utilization after expanding the type of practitioners available to plan members.
Download the full 2025 Benefits Canada Healthcare Survey report here. Look for more coverage of the panel discussions analyzing this year’s results in the coming days.