You’ve probably heard of Health Risk Assessments, but what about Mental Health Risk Assessments? I’ve noticed that several providers are moving more toward offering employers the ability to focus on preventative well-being for a person’s mental health with mental health risk assessments. This change in focus from physical to mental isn’t surprising – as noted above, although chronic pain and illness are often related to a person’s physical health, this can have a significant

More than half of the Canadian workforce deals with a chronic disease in some shape or form – are your benefits working for them? Chronic disease is a multifaceted challenge that employers and employees alike struggle with on a daily basis. It’s a term that covers a wide range of health issues relating to chronic pain or illness including arthritis, hypertension, heart disease, obesity, diabetes, high cholesterol, and mental health conditions such as depression and anxiety.

Last month I co-hosted an in-person networking event on the topic of women’s mental health, and it was such an enjoyable evening!! ❤️ I loved chatting with peers in real life and the conversation was incredibly thought-provoking. Fresh off that session, I thought it would be beneficial to put women’s health in focus more broadly this month. This is an area I’m sometimes hesitant to take on because it may not resonate with everyone, especially those who do not necessarily rel

I often get questions from clients wanting to understand the concept of insurance pooling and it’s no surprise. There are a lot of layers to pooling with different definitions and implications, from pooled benefits and pooled claims to pooled plans, so we’re going to dive in (pun intended!) with a two-part series on pooling over the next couple of months. Pooling is ultimately a way for the insurance company of protect against risk and we’ll explore that in a bit more detail

A few months ago, I shared some details on the Government of Canada’s interim plan for the Canada Dental Benefit. For plan administrators, I noted that the biggest impact for you is currently a new tax reporting requirement and we’ve gotten a few more details on this for the 2023 tax reporting year. The T4 and T4A tax reporting codes have now been released. Here’s an overview: Code 1 - Employee has no access to dental care insurance or coverage of dental services of any kind

As we kick off the new year and go into 2024, it’s important to consider how you can keep your benefits plan dynamic and responsive, so it continues to enhance employee well-being. The workforce and marketplace are everchanging, so there is no reason why your plan shouldn’t too! Many organizations don't think of their benefits plan in this way, but it really is a tool to support employee well-being that should be re-evaluated and tweaked on an ongoing basis. This is a fantast