Blog

You may or may not have heard of a ‘chatbot‘, but it will most definitely be a topic of discussion at future group benefits conferences in Canada in 2017. A chatbot is a rising trend, at the intersection of the hottest topics right now in tech: artificial intelligence, messenger apps, the mobile wave, and of […]

When the human genetic code was cracked about 12 years ago, it brought with it enormous belief of instant application to human disease. It was soon after that pronouncements were made that there would soon be a cure for cancer, Alzheimer’s  and heart diseases, given that we now are aware of the genes causing them. […]

Keeping health insurance costs down without cutting employees health benefits is a very common request from business leaders and HR professionals these days. With the costs of employer-funded health insurance rising at double digit rates year over year, employers are shifting some costs on to employees or exploring caps. While expenses are rising very rapidly […]

Insurers are hiking pooling costs, and we don’t blame them. Don’t kid yourself: if you were about to write your name underneath a policy, I’d wager that you too would increase premiums. Our block at The Beneplan Employee Benefits Co-operative was hit hard in 2015 by several biologic drug claims. While drug companies are falling over […]

It is a well-known fact that smaller companies pay higher fees than larger companies when purchasing group benefits for their employees. Hosted by The Beneplan Cooperative, join us to learn about strategies and techniques that larger freight forwarders and shipping lines employ to reduce their group benefits costs. Case studies will be shared of other […]

At Beneplan, our favourite time of year is the spring because we have the privilege of distributing dividends to all of our member-owners. First, the dividend amount and audit must be approved by member-owners at the Annual General Meeting. All stake-holders are invited to attend.

You might have been reading a lot of stories about pharmaceutical companies increasing the price of brand and generic drugs tenfold. None more so perhaps than Martin Shkreli, the “Pharma Bro” and former CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals, who raised the price of Daraprim, a drug used to treat HIV, by 5000%. But there is more […]

Forget Freedom 55. Canada’s retirement age is on the way up. On average, Canadians are working 3.5 years longer past the retirement age. Due to a whole host of factors such as lifespans and poor performance in financial markets, Canada’s retirement age is already rising. Changes were made to the Old Age Security pension during […]

In case you missed it, here are the slide decks from Beneplan’s annual Benefits Law & Admin Workshop:   Beneplan – Benefits Law & Admin Workshop – December 1 2015 – Mississauga, Ontario, Canada from Beneplan Co-operative Beneplan and Davies Howe Partners LLP Employment and Benefits Law – December 1 2015 – Mississauga Ontario Canada […]

David Crisp was the SVP HR at the Hudson’s Bay Company and reported to the CEO until he chose early retirement in 2002.  He now does HR consulting and runs the Balance and Results blog. Here, he shares his insights towards being a better plan administrator. Try to keep the plan design up with the […]

We had a chance to see Dr Richard Celko DMD speak at the Canadian Health Care Anti-fraud Association Conference on Sept 21st, 2012 on how he determines if a dental claim is fraudulent. Here are some of the higher-level insights from the seminar. Dr Celko estimates that 15% to 20% of dentists are either fraudulent or […]