‘What's missing is this structured, personalized support for the member for everything that happens outside of the hospital,’ says Manulife’s head of health
Despite cancer being the number one cause of death in Canada and roughly 40 per cent of those diagnoses will land during a person's working years, one of Canada’s top benefits providers is hoping to help plan members cope positively through their cancer journey.
Manulife Canada has teamed up with Osara Health, a cancer coaching platform that pairs members with trained, one-on-one coaches to help them manage the realities of a cancer journey, from fatigue and nutrition to stress, finances, and returning to work.
"We all know someone who's had their life turned upside down by a cancer diagnosis," says Doug Bryce, head of health at Manulife Canada, who also notes cancer is the third-largest driver of disability claims among Manulife members. "Beyond the cancer itself, a cancer journey has a huge impact on a member's life and every aspect of their life, from their home, their relationships, the practical realities of their routines and their jobs," he says.
Bryce argues that Canada's public health care system is built to treat the disease, like the oncologist appointments, the hospital visits, the clinical protocols, but not the person navigating life around it. Additionally, members who deal with fatigue, sleep disruption, nutritional challenges, stress, depression, and financial pressure are left to sort through those problems alone.
"What's missing is this structured, personalized support for the member for everything that happens outside of the hospital or the clinic," he said.
That gap is what Osara's Cancer Coach platform is designed to fill, he argues, noting the program is meant “to support the whole person, not just the cancer diagnosis,” by helping members deal with the daily realities of cancer, including sleep, energy, nutrition, stress, emotional health, and communication.
While he positions medical treatment as only one part of the experience, he emphasized the aim is to add human support around that care without disrupting the clinical side. He also underscored that return-to-work planning is built into the model in a way that reflects each member's own goals, recovery timeline, and energy levels.
At the centre of Manulife’s offering is a one-on-one trained cancer coach who provides practical, personalized guidance over time. Bryce contrasts that with a traditional EAP, which is often more episodic. Here, the relationship is ongoing, with members also getting access to digital symptom-tracking tools, educational modules, and other cancer-specific resources. The program is designed to stay with plan members through the course of their journey, rather than offering isolated support at occasional moments.
"You get access to person that you know throughout the course of the journey, who will work with you to help you address the actual problems that you have, and they'll stay with you," Bryce said. "It's a little bit different than a lot of the ways that traditional benefit programs work."
According to Bryce, the program is really doing two jobs at once. It helps members manage the strain of treatment while also preparing for a return to work that fits their recovery. He acknowledged that returning to work isn’t a single event but a longer process, and one that looks different for each person.
In that sense, support while someone is away from work cannot really be separated from support for getting back. The goal is to help members deal with the physical and emotional demands of cancer treatment, rebuild their health, and start planning for a return that matches their circumstances.
He also suggests employers need to think carefully about their role. Because privacy limits what they may know about an employee's condition, they often cannot intervene in a highly specific way. Instead, Bryce places the emphasis on workplace culture: creating an environment where people feel supported, encouraged to use available resources, and able to come back gradually if needed.
That’s why a flexible, accommodating approach ultimately matters, particularly because a full return all at once can be daunting, he said, noting employers are most effective when they focus less on the details of an individual's illness and more on building a culture of understanding and practical accommodation.
"Coming back all at once can be scary and overwhelming,” he noted. “If you can provide options for how people can kind of ease back in, I think that can go a long way.”
In the meantime, Bryce emphasized how the Osara partnership is a pilot, available to select members with disability coverage but should it be deemed successful and shows clear value for members' health, experience, or overall outcomes, he suggests there’s room to scale the model beyond disability coverage and into broader group benefits.
Bryce underscored Manulife has done its due diligence on their partner and takes some confidence from Osara's results and member satisfaction in other markets, but also frames the Canadian launch as a test of demand, engagement, and real-world impact before any wider expansion is considered.
He acknowledged Manulife will track a broad set of measures, including member uptake, satisfaction, enrollment and completion rates, as well as quality-of-life changes like fatigue, pain, confidence, and stress, and feedback from disability case managers.
Return-to-work results will also be a key part of the assessment, particularly around duration and transition. More broadly, Bryce makes the case that cancer support belongs in the workplace benefits conversation because so many diagnoses happen during working years and the effects extend well beyond treatment into disability, cost, and day-to-day functioning.
“If we can show through the pilot that we’re having an impact on members' health, that we're having an impact on cost or experience, there's a lot of opportunity to scale this, not just in disability, but beyond general group benefits plans,” said Bryce. “We want people to be able to get the care that they need from us in a way that works for them in an accessible way within their plan.”
