C.D. Howe Institute analysts say almost 30 per cent of Ontario’s workers do not have access to workplace health and dental benefits. In a recent conversation with C.D. Howe Institute podcast host, Michael Hainsworth, Chris Bonnet, principal at H3 Consulting, and senior policy analyst with the C.D. Howe Institute, Rosalie Wyonch, discuss the provincial government’s interest in portable health benefits for those lacking coverage – funded by three parties, including the government, employers and employees themselves.
They point out that contract workers, gig workers, part time workers and others are currently falling through the cracks of existing social support programs. To answer the problem, the government is considering the relatively novel portable benefits solution – there is no model for portable health benefits in Canada yet.
The institute’s discussion builds on the publication of its report, entitled Better For Workers, Better For All? Assessing a Portable Health Benefits Plan in Ontario. “This study was interesting because it was the first time that we’ve really looked into it in a Canadian context,” says Bonnet, who authored the report. “It was born from the Ontario government’s interest in portable health benefits. They’ve struck a panel that’s supposed to report at the end of the summer.”
Notably, Bonnet adds and suggests that the insurance industry’s existing experience in plan administration could be put to work in this context, as well. “This is a relatively easy kind of administration for them to pick up. It would be pretty seamless whether you’re administered through your employer or administered through your home address, which is pretty much the same thing. You could get access to a high-quality benefits plan. But that’s all up in the air. We’re not sure just what the scope of benefits the provincial government in Ontario has in mind at this point,” he says.
“This is really an alternative model that’s being considered and there’s currently not a ton of clarity around what the overall goal might be,” adds Wyonch. “This is really, I think, a first in Canada.”
