Rising allergy, cancer claims and workplace anxiety point to a climate problem
Climate change isn’t just an abstract environmental concern. It needs to be recognized as a health issue, a workplace issue, and increasingly a claims issue.
This was one of the key takeaways at Beneva’s third health symposium on Tuesday in Toronto.
Dr. Scott Weichenthal, a professor in the Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Occupational Health at McGill University, has spent two decades studying how environmental exposures affect population health. He said the connection between climate and human well-being is far broader than most people realize.
"It's really difficult to overstate how linked climate change and health are if you just think about the environmental exposures that we experience," he said.
“We don't really have a good understanding of what that means in terms of how many additional cancer cases is what magnitude of risk. When it comes to the actual health outcomes, it could be anything from various physical effects like burns or injuries when people are evacuating a town. It could be acute cardiovascular respiratory effects from smoke. The impacts of heat can range from increased emergency room visits for heat stress or mental health impacts,” said Weichenthal, noting his research has linked proximity to wildfire zones with elevated rates of lung and brain cancers.
“We haven't even talked about long term impacts like cancer. We know that when there are fires, these events release thousands of chemicals, many of which are known causes of cancer, into the environment. It’s not really a question of if these events are going to increase cancer risk, it's just how much,” he added.
Climate risks lead to more claims
Christelle Lim-Severe, sustainability practice leader at Beneva, sees those risks reflected in the insurer's claims data, noting how allergies, asthma medications, and dermatological treatments now rank among the top 10 most reimbursed drug classes across all age groups.
According to the Quebec Lung Association, this disease costs Canadians more than $2 billion a year in medical care and medication.
Meanwhile, lung cancer, she noted, is now among the top three most frequently reported cancers in Beneva's book. The old assumption that lung cancer is a smoker's disease no longer holds.
"Usually we associate it with smoking, but it's no longer the case now," she said, while also framing climate change as a long-term prevention challenge, not a short-term fix.
With most countries and pension plans pledging net-zero emissions by 2050, the timeline stretches decades as does the exposure for group health and disability plans.
Climate change and mental health
According to Lim-Severe, international insurance associations have flagged mental health as an emerging risk tied to climate, but the industry has lacked hard data on what that means for disability claims.
The financial toll on households facing serious illness compounds the problem. Notably, a report from the Canadian Cancer Society puts the average out-of-pocket expense for a household dealing with a cancer diagnosis at $33,000, a high figure that lands on top of the broader financial pressures Canadians already face from inflation, housing costs, and caregiving responsibilities.
Flooding presents its own cascade of health consequences as Weichenthal points to mold growth from water-damaged homes, contamination of waterways, and the sheer mental health burden of losing possessions or being displaced.
Mental health also extends beyond disaster response. Beneva partnered with University of Quebec-Montreal (UQAM)'s Mental Health Research Chair to conduct a scientific study on eco-anxiety — the emotional response to current and anticipated environmental crises.
According to the findings, 69 per cent of respondents reported moderate to high concern about the climate crisis, and 20 per cent said it affected their daily functioning, including sleep and concentration. Among young people, that figure rose to 25 per cent.
“Yes, people are anxious, but because there is hope, there is compassion, and all of this is pushing them to take climate actions. For employers, the more you allow your employees to be an advocate for climate actions, integrate environmental studies into your process, into your operation, that reduces anxiety because it helps them to feel like they can do something about it,” said Lim-Severe.
The goal, she said, is to channel anxiety into agency rather than letting it compound alongside financial stress and caregiving pressures that are already straining the workforce.
What can employers do?
On the benefits side, Lim-Severe said plan sponsors can use existing health and wellness spending accounts to address climate-related health risks without adding new plan infrastructure. Eligible expenses can include air purifiers, air filters, and nature park passes.
Additionally, some plan sponsors have gone further, covering the cost of home electric vehicle charging stations through wellness accounts. She said Beneva's team is actively encouraging plan sponsors to broaden what they include in those accounts to reflect the evolving link between environmental exposure and employee well-being.
At the personal level, Weichenthal suggested installing air filtration systems at home, noting his research has found closing windows and running an active air filter during wildfire events can cut indoor pollution by 70 per cent.
He believes the focus should be on incentivizing protective equipment for employees, improving building energy efficiency, and treating emissions reduction as a routine part of business decision-making rather than a separate initiative.
That’s why he urged employers to think about their own emissions as a health investment rather than just an environmental obligation.
"The interests of population health and public health are directly aligned with the insurance industry," he said. "We all want the population health to be better."
Lim-Severe believes keeping the conversation going will lead to better outcomes as well.
“We need to keep talking about the impact on climate and on health,” she said. “The more we talk about it, the more we engage with people, and the more people will be conscious about the impact on their health and look after themselves.”
