Marketing Monthly | Disability & LTC (November 2022)
In this issue:
- Fewer Canadians have disability coverage through workplace benefits, leaving them more at risk
- More Canadians now perceive mental illness as a disability
- Long-term care and ‘the great revealer’
- Revolutionizing mental health-related disability claims management
- Creating your own digital poppy in memory
Fewer Canadians have disability coverage through workplace benefits, leaving them more at risk
The number of Canadians with disability coverage through workplace benefits has fallen significantly since 2015 – 48% vs 57%. Of those Canadians without disability coverage through their workplace, 84% have not bought coverage themselves. Yet, if faced with the possibility of becoming disabled and unable to work for three months, 68% admit they would face serious financial trouble. However, when it comes to accessing disability coverage, where and how Canadians find work are strong barriers, along with affordability.
More Canadians now perceive mental illness as a disability
As attitudes around health and wellness among employees and employers continue to shift, the number of working Canadians who view mental illnesses as a disability has hit a new high. According to a recent RBC Insurance survey, more Canadians now consider depression (54 per cent) and anxiety (44 per cent) to be disabilities, the highest figures respectively since 2019. At the same time, just over half (54 per cent) rate their mental health as excellent or good, which is a significant drop of 12 percentage points over that same period in 2019.
Long-term care and ‘the great revealer’
When military personnel were deployed to long-term care homes in Ontario and Quebec during the pandemic’s first wave in the spring of 2020, they encountered a system that some had said was in dire need of change even before the pandemic. But COVID-19 brought increased public attention to the system’s shortcomings as it spread through long-term care homes across the country.
Nearly four-fifths of the Canadians who died during the pandemic’s first six months were residents of long-term care and retirement homes. COVID-19 is, admittedly, an especially dangerous disease for the elderly, but this proportion was high even by global standards. By February 15, 2021, it was 69 per cent—still much higher than the international average of 41 per cent, according to the Canadian Institute for Health Information.
Revolutionizing mental health-related disability claims management
Canadian sports journalist, Michael Landsberg shares the challenges he faced in finding the right diagnosis and treatment to manage his depression and why he is a huge supporter of RBC Insurance’s exclusive Onward by Best Doctors program.
Creating your own digital poppy in memory
Whether you chose Canada or were born here, we all get to enjoy values like freedom, democracy, and respect for others. Veterans stood up for those rights, but it’s up to us to uphold them. This Remembrance Day, honour veterans by dedicating a Poppy in memory of their name.
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