Blog
COVID-19’s impact on coverage
The majority of plan sponsors stepped up and maintained coverage for laid-off employees during the early months of the pandemic. Job losses peaked at 1.9 million during the period from February to April, stated Paul Henricks, associate director of data innovation and...
Benefits snapshot: pharmacogenomic testing
A RECENT POLL BY TELUS HEALTH found that 10 out of 10 insurance carriers in Canada offer at least one option to help plan members cover the cost of pharmacogenomic (PGx) testing, which uses DNA results to determine which medications are most likely to be effective for...
Value of pharmacogenetic testing
Insurers increasingly recognize the importance of individualized therapy as the use of personalized medicine builds momentum in clinical practice. We know people can respond to medications differently: more than 90% of us have genetic variations affecting drug...
Money management in the time of COVID
When it comes to personal finances, COVID-19 has led to widespread changes in status. As many would expect, it’s resulted in a decrease or loss of work for many Canadians. But for Canadians who continue to work, either at home or with health and safety measures in...
How members feel about their benefits
Plan members appear to feel less entitled to use their health benefit plans “as much as possible,” and those with health spending accounts (HSAs) are much more likely to be positive about the quality of their plan. On the flip side, members in poorer health are less...
The financial toll of depression
Recent research reinforces the importance of early and effective treatment for depression. Total healthcare claims came to $13,845 per year on average for plan members who had changed their medications two or more times (possibly due to treatment failure), which is...
5 steps to safely get down to business
Six months into the COVID-19 pandemic and one thing is increasingly clear: work will likely never be the same. STATISTICS CANADA reports that at the height of the economic shutdown in April, 3.4 million Canadians were working from home. While that number has declined...
One-stop source for drug plan trends
Private drug plans in Canada saw an increase of 7.6% in eligible costs in 2019—the largest increase in the past five years, according to the 2020 edition of TELUS Health’s DRUG DATA TRENDS & NATIONAL BENCHMARKS report released in July. The implementation and...