More plan sponsors added disability coverage as mental health claims kept rising through 2025
Mental health now accounts for 40 percent of new approved long-term disability claims among Alberta employers, up from 33 percent in 2023.
The figures come from Alberta Blue Cross's latest Benefits Pulse Report, which tracks group claims across drug, extended health, dental, spending account, and life and disability benefits over the 2023 to 2025 period.
The report attributes the rise in mental health disability claims to a mix of workplace, financial and health-system factors, including burnout, delayed access to care and provider shortages.
Anxiety-related conditions are increasing and are beginning to overtake depression as the leading mental health diagnosis in disability claims.
Over the same period, the share of plan sponsors offering long-term disability coverage rose from 48 percent to 53 percent.
Mental health is also driving costs within extended health benefits.
Psychology has become one of the fastest-growing paramedical benefits, with spending up almost 35 percent over the three years as more members access support more often.
Alberta Blue Cross links the trend to greater need, reduced stigma, wider provider options and richer plan coverage.
Drug spending continues to climb.
Total drug costs rose just over 7 percent from 2023 to 2024 and just over 9 percent the following year, as per the report, with average annual cost per claimant increasing about 6 percent and 8 percent over the same periods.
The report points to higher-cost medications, including GLP-1 drugs such as Ozempic, specialty drugs and newer traditional therapies, as the main drivers.
Diabetes has remained the top condition by drug spend for three consecutive years.
Dental benefits accounted for 36 percent of overall benefit spending in 2025, according to the report, with roughly 95 percent of claims tied to routine care such as checkups, cleanings and basic treatments.
Dental's share of total spending has edged down slightly as drug and extended health costs grow faster, but overall dental costs continue to rise, driven largely by provincial fee guide increases.
The report also flagged wide variation in recall appointment fees across the country, ranging from $276 in Nova Scotia to $481 in Alberta.
Spending accounts are taking on a larger role in plan design.
The report said Health and Wellness Spending Accounts give employees more flexibility to top up medical, dental and wellness coverage while helping employers contain costs through set annual amounts.
Wellness Spending Account spending is rising more quickly than Health Spending Account use, which Alberta Blue Cross reads as growing interest in preventive and lifestyle supports.
The report frames the findings as a resource for plan sponsors weighing design changes against affordability.
The Benefits Pulse Report gathers benefits trends into one place for employers and plan advisors.
It gives them "a single, comprehensive resource" to see where benefits have been and where they are headed, said Margaret Wurzer, director of benefits design and strategy at Alberta Blue Cross.
The report names provincial legislation, shifting government programs and market developments as ongoing cost pressures for group plans.
To manage them, it points to tools like generic pricing, special authorization, step therapy and combined paramedical maximums.
