Most Canadians are happy with their health plans’ coverage of prescription drugs and dental care – but in other areas, they’re not so impressed
Most Canadians are happy with their health plans’ coverage of things like prescription drugs and dental care, according to a new study – but many are unhappy with their plans’ handling of things like vaccination and critical illness insurance.
The 2016 Sanofi Canada Health Care Study found that 60% of surveyed Canadians rated their plans’ coverage of prescription drugs as excellent or very good, while 53% gave similar ratings to their dental coverage. Those were also the areas of coverage Canadians felt were most important, with 94% rating prescription drug coverage as very or somewhat important and 93% rating dental coverage as very or somewhat important.
But health plans didn’t do so well in other areas. Only 29% of those surveyed rated their plan’s critical illness insurance as excellent or very good, and just 35% rated their plan’s handling of vaccination well. The most glaring criticism Canadians had was for vision care coverage; 91% rated it as very or somewhat important – third in importance behind prescription drugs and dental care – but just 35% rated their plan’s vision coverage as good.
Plan members also rated their plans’ health savings/spending accounts poorly, with just 33% saying their plans handled HSAs well. But that rating may be tempered by the fact that HSAs aren’t well-understood by the general populace, said Art Babcock of Aon Hewitt.
“Generally, people don’t fully understand health spending accounts,” he said. “When you consider that employees value their prescription and dental plans the most, they should value HSAs as much since they can be used for those expenses.”
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The 2016 Sanofi Canada Health Care Study found that 60% of surveyed Canadians rated their plans’ coverage of prescription drugs as excellent or very good, while 53% gave similar ratings to their dental coverage. Those were also the areas of coverage Canadians felt were most important, with 94% rating prescription drug coverage as very or somewhat important and 93% rating dental coverage as very or somewhat important.
But health plans didn’t do so well in other areas. Only 29% of those surveyed rated their plan’s critical illness insurance as excellent or very good, and just 35% rated their plan’s handling of vaccination well. The most glaring criticism Canadians had was for vision care coverage; 91% rated it as very or somewhat important – third in importance behind prescription drugs and dental care – but just 35% rated their plan’s vision coverage as good.
Plan members also rated their plans’ health savings/spending accounts poorly, with just 33% saying their plans handled HSAs well. But that rating may be tempered by the fact that HSAs aren’t well-understood by the general populace, said Art Babcock of Aon Hewitt.
“Generally, people don’t fully understand health spending accounts,” he said. “When you consider that employees value their prescription and dental plans the most, they should value HSAs as much since they can be used for those expenses.”
Related stories:
No lump sums for young life insurance customers
Blue Cross named most reputable benefits provider in Canada
