Manulife: Supporting the health of Canadians

October 2024

Last year, Manulife Canada began a strategic partnership with League, a leading healthcare technology provider, to give members a personalized and digital healthcare experience that is fully integrated within Manulife’s Group Benefits ecosystem.

In addition, Manulife is providing more self-guided, digital service capabilities that allow plan sponsors and members to easily access benefits information and healthcare support.

This includes a recently added innovative mobile app that offers:

• A health profile^* to support individual wellness goals
• Customized content to help members better understand and optimize their benefits
• Live chat^** that is integrated with benefits information for personalized support
• Resources that help members easily connect with products and care providers
• Motivational tools and challenges to help engage users

^* Completion of the health profile is not mandatory, but it helps us personalize program recommendations.

^** ‘Live chat’ agents are available when the ‘Live chat’ option appears in the lower right-hand corner of your screen. Simply click on it to start a chat. Live chat is available during hours of operation Monday to Friday between 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. ET.”

Other large-scale digital initiatives include: a new claims platform to improve turnaround times, the revamping and digitization of the disability portal, and the provision of digital self-serve tools for plan sponsors.

Manulife expanded its partnership with TELUS^® Health, a virtual health care program provider, to offer members more options to access integrated and personalized mental health care.

Starting in June 2024, a new mental health and counselling service will be offered to members of Manulife Extended Health Care plans. This digital access point will help members connect with mental health care – from personalized assistance to help find the appropriate mental health provider, easier appointment booking, shorter wait times to speak with a counsellor, self-serve resources, and support throughout the journey.

With this voluntary program, Manulife members and their dependents now have even more options to get faster and easier access to integrated and personalized mental health support  online.

These new mental health and counselling services come at no additional cost to the plan sponsor. Based on their plan’s coverage, members can use their available EHC benefit to cover these services. Coverage amounts, maximums, and practitioner types vary by plan.

Analyzing aggregate claims data (across Manulife’s block of group benefits business) such as healthcare utilization or medication usage rates can play a crucial role in understanding emerging health trends. This can bring into focus the health status and needs of plan members as a whole.

Our Health Insights reports highlight these trends to provide sponsors with an overview of the health issues affecting their workforce. In these reports, Manulife experts and our Medical Director, Cleveland Clinic Canada, analyze the trends and make recommendations for workplace policies and practices that can help to support employee health and well-being.

With this information, sponsors can also make data-driven decisions about their benefits plans that may help to reduce absenteeism and disability claims.

Recently, Manulife has observed two significant trends: a notable increase in the use of anti-obesity drugs and a rise in members seeking treatment for substance use disorder.

Unique claimants for anti-obesity drugs grew by 42% in 2023 and about 92% since 2020.¹ Increased media coverage of anti-obesity drugs may be contributing to the growing interest in these medications.

Read more about the surging demand for anti-obesity drugs and ways employers can better support employees.

More people are also reaching out for help for substance use disorder. In 2023, there was a 17% year-over-year increase in claims related to substance use disorder (including alcohol use and opioid use disorder).¹

Read more about the reasons why employees are seeking treatment for substance use disorder.

We’re also seeing some trends related to the cardiovascular health of Canadians – specifically among young people and pregnant individuals.

Having high cholesterol and high blood pressure, or hypertension, earlier in life can increase the risk for major health problems at a younger age, including heart disease or kidney disease.

Major cardiovascular diseases, like heart attacks or strokes, can also have a profound effect on employees and their work, and so addressing the risk factors can lessen this impact.  By promoting heart-healthy behaviors, offering workplace wellness programs, and providing access to a group benefits plan, employers can help reduce the effect of cardiovascular disease on their workforce.

To find out more about the cardiovascular trends affecting employees read the full Heart Health Insights Report

Do you want to provide counselling or educational resources to employees to help them adopt diets and activities that support a healthier  heart?

• Manulife’s Well-being team offers educational webinars on nutrition, heart health, and other health-related topics.  Learn how Manulife’s Workplace Well-being Team can support your organization: Why workplace health clinics should be part of your wellness program
• Manulife’s Guide to Healthy Living is a resource that can be shared with employees. It includes advice for people planning to make meaningful improvements in diet, physical activity, sleep, stress relief, and social connections – all of which can play a role in a healthy cardiovascular system.  Download the guide and share it with your employees.
• Medications are commonly used to manage high blood pressure. Organizations can provide support by ensuring that their benefits plans have adequate coverage for key medications, and by providing educational information around the importance of taking medications as prescribed. Read more about helping employees with medication adherence.
• Within the benefits plan, services such as Healthcare Online, the Employee and Family Assistance Plan and nutritional counselling by dietitians can help remove barriers to care for employees. They might also provide the support people need to successfully make important lifestyle changes. Setting goals around physical activity, diet, sleep, alcohol consumption, smoking, and stress management are all steps that may help people manage or prevent high blood pressure.

For the latest news from Manulife, visit the Group Benefits newsroom and be sure to follow them on LinkedIn for additional insights from its team of experts.

The Canadian division of Manulife helps Canadians protect their loved ones, grow their wealth, improve their health – and build their futures.

It is also a leading provider of life, health, disability, and travel insurance to professional, alumni, and retiree associations as well as retailers and financial institutions.

Manulife Canada’s Group Benefits Division offers businesses of all sizes a range of traditional and flexible benefits programs that includes life, critical illness, disability, health, and dental coverages. More than 30,000 Canadian businesses have entrusted their employee benefits programs to Manulife Group Benefits.

To learn more about the advantages of partnering with Manulife Canada, view their key figures, recent awards and recognitions and get in touch with the local IGP contact, click here.