Group Benefits News

Within a generation, it will affect one in 68 workers. It usually appears between the ages of twenty-five and fifty. It can start in your wrists, your hips, your feet, your legs, or your hands. Rheumatoid arthritis, an autoimmune disease, is the leading cause of disability in Canada. Catherine Hofstetter has fought it for more than twenty years.

Be inspired. Watch the story of this brave woman and her caring medical team in the third video in our ‘Changing Drug Landscape’ series:

The Empire Life Special Authorization program helps business owners’ manage both costs and access so their drug plans are sustainable. Under this program, employees must acquire approval for certain high cost drugs (such as biologics) before they will be covered. That’s because in many cases—rheumatoid arthritis being one—about half of all patients will respond well to traditional drug therapies.

Catherine Hofstetter was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis twenty years ago. As the President of a small business begun by her father in the 1950’s, she doesn’t have a drug plan. And yet, she relies on expensive medications to get up every morning and go to work—just as Catherine’s employees rely on her to keep the business running. For Catherine, the drugs that are most beneficial are biologics.

Watch our video, The Human Face—and the Cost—of Biologics, in which we focus on the drugs that help keep Catherine Hofstetter at work:

Empire Life is excited to launch a new electronic claims service, making it fast and easy for group insurance customers to submit claims.

The Empire Life Insurance Company (Empire Life) today introduced new healthcare pooling arrangements to protect group benefit customers who face high cost claims from prescription drugs and medical services. Watch our short video to learn more.

October 14-20 is Small Business Week. It’s a week to celebrate the many contributions that small businesses make to the economy and to communities across Canada.

Empire Life is proud to be participating in the drug pooling agreement, announced by the CLHIA. Listen to Empire Life President and CEO Les Herr’s comments in this video.

If some of your group plans could do with a tune-up, our HCSA may be just what you need.

New options let small business owners choose among three different levels of coverage for employees.

Empire Life and Aspiria Corp. are pleased to announce the creation of a new Employee Assistance Program, AssistNow™, designed specifically for Empire Life Group Benefits customers.