Sixty-two per cent of Canadian plan members report living with at least one chronic condition — an eight-point jump in just three years — according to the 2026 Benefits Canada Healthcare Survey. For benefits leaders, the finding reframes chronic disease management from a niche concern to a mainstream workforce reality that touches drug plan budgets, disability trends and absence data.

The number is even starker when conditions stack up: 36 per cent of plan members said they are managing multiple chronic conditions at once. "It's not a rare occasion that somebody's in the workforce dealing with a chronic condition," said Telma Charrua, director of business development for group benefits at Desjardins, speaking at Benefits Canada's 2026 Toronto Benefits Summit.

Mental-health diagnoses climb sharply

The survey found 25 per cent of plan members have a diagnosed mental-health condition, up from 18 per cent in 2023 — a seven-point rise in three years. Barbara Martinez, national practice leader for drug solutions at Canada Life, said mental and physical health are "very closely related" and can influence each other.

Canada Life's claims data bears that out. Plan members claiming depression and anxiety medications showed notable increases in utilization of cardiac disease, blood pressure and cholesterol disorder drugs — evidence of comorbid mental and physical conditions that plan design often addresses in silos.

Sponsors are paying attention — and underestimating

Chronic conditions are clearly on plan sponsors' agendas. Thirty-nine per cent of survey respondents expect to dedicate resources to illness prevention and chronic condition management within the next three years, and 38 per cent want to add benefits or services targeting chronic disease.

Yet sponsors still misjudge the scale of the problem. On average, they estimated 37.6 per cent of their workforce had a chronic condition — nearly 25 points below the 62 per cent prevalence plan members themselves report. Charrua attributed part of that gap to difficulty interpreting benefits, disability and drug data. "We have a responsibility as carriers to . . . try to create ways to present data and the story behind it, in terms of trend and risk factors," she said.

Some chronic disease-related costs hide in plain sight. Shane Reid, vice-president of product and marketing at Medavie Blue Cross, pointed to Medavie's drug trends report, where mental-health, respiratory and gastrointestinal categories appeared further down the list of top spend drivers. These categories don't look chronic-disease-related on their face, he noted, but often serve as treatment pathways for chronic conditions.

Audit what the plan already offers

Sponsors may not need to buy new solutions before checking utilization of what they already fund. Reid said benefits plans contain numerous resources useful for prevention and condition maintenance, including virtual care, health coaching and condition-specific programs for diabetes or hypertension, plus carrier education materials. Making members aware of those supports is a low-cost first step.

Nutrition is also gaining traction in chronic disease management. Martinez said artificial intelligence tools can now let users photograph their meals and analyze diet and eating behaviours — a measurement capability that was previously missing. "We knew nutrition was always the right lever, but there was just not an easily measurable way to use nutrition support to improve chronic conditions," she said.

Measuring the impact of preventive programs remains difficult, Reid acknowledged. He suggested sponsors start with a basic utilization question — are members using the programs at all — before tracking the accumulation of preventive effects over time, such as disability, absenteeism and drug pattern trends, alongside employee engagement and productivity metrics.

A cost break on the horizon

One near-term cost pressure may be easing. With a generic version of Ozempic now on the market, Desjardins data shows the drug has dropped from the No. 1 spot in highest drug costs to No. 5 in the last two months. Charrua said she expects more plan members to shift to paying out of pocket for the generic as it becomes financially attainable, offering sponsors some relief on plan spend.

The 2026 survey results suggest the working question for sponsors is no longer whether chronic conditions will shape benefits strategy, but how quickly data literacy, prevention utilization and comorbidity-aware plan design can catch up to the prevalence plan members are already reporting.