Where health benefits rank and other key findings from the 2024 Benefits Canada Healthcare Survey

Plan members put the health benefits plan ahead of their work environment as a reason why they’re staying at their current job. For their part, about a third of plan sponsors added or improved their benefits plan for the third consecutive year.

These are among the findings of the 2024 Benefits Canada Healthcare Survey, released in September. The survey has captured the opinions and behaviours of plan members for 27 years and of plan sponsors for 17 years, in three main areas: personal health, the health benefits plan and workplace wellness supports.

When asked to rank eight factors in terms of how they influence their decision to stay at their current job, 41 per cent of plan members ranked the health benefits plan as one of their top-three factors, ahead of flexibility in work hours (37 per cent), flexibility in work location (34 per cent), job responsibilities (34 per cent) and other factors related to the work environment (for example, relationships with colleagues). The health benefits plan was second only to wages, which, as expected, ranked in the top-three for the majority of respondents (71 per cent).

For three years running, about a third of plan sponsors added or improved their benefits offerings in the past year (34 per cent in 2024, 28 per cent in 2023 and 30 per cent in 2022) and about one in 10 removed or reduced benefits (10 percent in 2024, 14 per cent in 2023 and 7 per cent in 2022). Whereas in 2021, when the question was first asked, plan sponsors were more than twice as likely to remove or reduce benefits (28 per cent) than add or improve them (11 per cent).

Almost half of plan sponsors (47 per cent) agreed their benefits plan is more important today than before the pandemic; only 7 per cent indicated it was less important. At the same time, four in five stated it is somewhat (44 per cent) or very (36 per cent) challenging to provide health benefits. The top three challenges were cost-related, including the impact of inflation, followed by increased utilization and employees’ growing expectations.

Plan members were most likely to be medium-to-heavy users (four or more claims a year) of prescription drugs (24 per cent), followed by massage therapy (21 per cent), physiotherapy (16 per cent) and chiropractic (14 per cent). About one in 10 (12 per cent) were medium to heavy users of mental-health counselling services.

When asked for which benefit they’d most like to receive increased coverage based on personal needs, major dental-care services ranked first (22 per cent), followed closely by vision care (21 per cent).

In situations where coverage runs out for a treatment or service, plan members are somewhat more likely to stop that treatment (41 per cent) than pay more themselves for it to continue (38 per cent). The results break down as follows:

• 27 per cent usually stop treatment until coverage starts again the next benefits year (increasing to 36 per cent among those with a diagnosed mental-health condition) and 14 per cent stop the treatment altogether.
• 15 per cent usually pick up the full cost until treatment is complete (increasing to 24 per cent among those aged 55 and older) and 23 per cent pay the full cost but may reduce the number of treatments.
• As well, 10 per cent switch to a different treatment or service that is covered (increasing to 23 per cent among plan members who suffered a major injury in the past year).

In the Survey report’s sections on personal health and workplace wellness supports, highlights include:

• 58 per cent of plan members have at least one chronic condition and the leading diagnosis is for depression, anxiety or other mental-health condition (22 per cent);
• More than a third (36 per cent) continue to experience high to extreme levels of daily stress and personal finances is increasingly the top source of stress (43 per cent in 2024).
• Two in five (39 per cent) used the public healthcare system extensively in the past year, and almost half (47 per cent) described the experience as extremely or somewhat difficult.
• 44 per cent of plan sponsors have a documented wellness strategy and 35 per cent are preparing a strategy.
• Four in five (81 per cent) currently try to support employees, outside of the health benefits plan, in the five main areas of health (mental, physical, work, financial and social health) and 79 per cent anticipate investing in these and other areas of health in the next three years.