Immix Insights • April 2026 Why Dental Benefits Keep Getting More Expensive and What Employers Should Know Dental coverage remains one of the most valued parts of an employee benefits plan, but it is also one of the areas where employers continue to see cost increases. Written by Howard Cheung Published April 2026 We’re often […]
Category: Employee Benefits Plans
Key Conversations in Benefits
Key Conversations in Employee Benefits Lindsay Byrka, CFP® is Vice President at the Immix Group. She partners with employers to source and manage group life and health plans, and group savings and retirement plans, working with Canada’s leading insurers to support transparent pricing and flexible plan design.LinkedIn As we kick off 2026, we look back […]
Inclusive Benefits: Weight Management and Chronic Disease Support
Weight Management as a Benefits Priority: What Canadian Employers Need to Know By Lindsay Byrka, CFP®, Vice President, Immix Group About the author Lindsay Byrka, CFP® Vice President, Immix Group LinkedIn profile Obesity in Canada: A Rising Concern for Employers Excess weight and obesity now affect roughly one in three Canadians, a trend that continues […]
Six Common Benefits Plan Mistakes that can Cost Employers
by Lindsay Byrka, CFP® Vice President, Immix Group Part of our role as benefits advisors in Canada is advising employers on their responsibilities when it comes to the ongoing management of their benefits program–enrolment, terminations, updates, communication to employees, taxation of benefits and rules for benefits under the Employment Standards Act here in Canada. When we first work […]
Your 2025 Employee Benefits Audit Checklist
by Lindsay Byrka, CFP® Vice President, Immix Group When we first begin working with a new employer to review their benefits offering, it involves a bit of detective work. We need to uncover why you’re not fully satisfied with your benefits program, and why you’ve come to us for a second opinion. Employers often sense […]
A Better Way to Do Benefits
A Better Way to Do Benefits: Independent, Canadian, and Client-First As an independent, Canadian-owned firm, we’re free to build custom benefits solutions based solely on what’s right for your business. by Lindsay Byrka | B.A., B.Ed, CFP® | Vice President The Immix Group Employee Benefits is Canadian and Independent One thing that sets the Immix Group apart—especially in […]
Your Benefits, Your Way: The “101” on Health & Wellness Spending Accounts
by Lindsay Byrka | B.A., B.Ed, CFP | Vice President If you’re a Canadian business owner looking to offer flexible, tax-effective coverage that empowers your team, an HSA could be the missing piece of your benefits offering. In this guide, we’ll break down what an HSA is, how it works, and why businesses like yours are making […]
Supporting Women at Every Stage: How Employee Benefits Can Make a Difference
The Workplace Has Changed—Have Your Benefits? by Lindsay Byrka, CFP® March 8th is International Women’s Day, described as a day to “recognize and celebrate the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women and girls.” This year’s theme is “Accelerate Action.” With this in mind, we wanted to highlight how employers can take action to […]
Key Conversations in Benefits 2024
Key Conversations in Benefits 2024 Once again, this year, we have compiled the top conversations in benefits, from our perspective as benefits advisors. These are the topics we heard about the most in the news, from our supplier partners, and that members of our Client Community inquired about most often. Each year, our Key Conversations […]
Your One-Stop Guide: Exploring Key Themes in Employee Benefits
A Guide to Immix Insights Articles Are you wondering what we’ve been writing about? Perhaps you haven’t had time to read the articles, but you’re hoping to gain some information on a particular topic. At the Immix Group, we strive to provide articles spanning a range of topics that are important to those in our […]
Financial Well-being: Valuable Resources through our Partnership with Ciccone McKay Financial Group
By: The Immix Group in partnership with Ciccone McKay Financial Group November marks Financial Literacy Month in Canada, and this year’s theme, “Money on Your Mind. Talk About It!”, focuses on encouraging open conversations about personal finances. This month, we want to highlight how employers can support their employees’ financial well-being, beyond standard employee benefits, […]
What You Need to Know When Considering a Switch in Employee Benefits Providers
When selecting a benefits provider, ensuring the right match for your organization is essential. When it comes to the benefits offering, as we’ve spoken about before, ‘one size fits all’ is not an ideal approach to take. Different insurance carriers have various strengths and weaknesses. But what is the right match? What are the important […]
Expanding into Canada
Expanding into Canada? What Non-Canadian entities need to know when implementing an Employee Benefit program in Canada Key Takeaways A typical employee benefits plan in Canada includes life insurance, extended health care, dental care, and often additional offerings like disability insurance, health spending accounts and retirement savings plans. The healthcare component of employee benefit programs […]
Mental Health Support: A Simple Guide to Providing Mental Health Coverage within your Employee Benefits Program
How employers can support employee well-being within an employee benefits program As defined by the Canadian government: mental health refers to one’s general state of psychological and emotional well-being. We acknowledge this is a complex and nuanced topic, and that an employer’s role in supporting positive well-being extends far beyond the insurance coverage they offer […]
Claim Confusion
Claim Confusion: Common Reasons Why Your Benefits Claim May Leave You “Out-of-Pocket” Uncovering why you may be left ‘out-of-pocket’ when claiming under your benefits program Wondering why you’re left ‘out-of-pocket’ despite having a robust benefits program? There is nothing more frustrating than submitting your claim, only to find it’s not covered, or not covered up […]
Three Reasons to Implement a Group Savings Plan
We write often about Group Savings Plans, as it’s our belief that one of the best ways employers can assist their employees is by offering them the opportunity to plan and save for the future. This is a sentiment that is echoed by many in our industry. In their recent 2023 recap, iA’s Director of […]
Key Conversations in Benefits 2023
Last year our blog “Top Conversations of 2022” proved to be among our most popular articles for the year! Once again, this year, we have compiled a recap of the Top Conversations in Benefits, from our perspective as benefits advisors. Last year we recapped the top conversations in benefits, which can be summarized as: The […]
Understanding Cost-Sharing in Employee Benefits
Understanding Cost-Sharing in Employee Benefits: The Employer’s Role in Premium Contributions and Standard Practices Introduction In the fiercely competitive job market, employee benefits play a crucial role in attracting and retaining top talent. Among the many decisions that employers face in crafting an appealing benefits package, one of the most significant is determining the […]
A Proven Strategy for Containing Employee Benefit Plan Costs
A Proven Strategy for Containing Employee Benefit Plan Costs With elevated inflation causing everyone to take a closer look at their expenses, we wanted to introduce (and remind those who are already members of the Immix Group Client Community!) the many advantages of our broker-managed pools. Table of Contents Back in May 2020, we wrote […]
Top Benefits Conversations of 2022
It’s a wrap! As we begin the New Year with refreshed energy and excitement for what 2023 may bring, we wanted to share a recap of the key stories in benefits over 2022. Extreme Difficulty in Hiring The theme of our client meetings this year can be summed up in one simple sentence “Where […]
8 Reasons for Increases to your Employee Benefit Plan Premiums
Pondering the question: “Why do my benefit plan costs keep going up?” We’ve got answers. If you’ve walked away from your renewal meeting scratching your head at the rate adjustment, you’re unfortunately not alone. Many advisors don’t do a great job explaining a rate change, and the math used by insurers can be quite (unnecessarily!) […]
Check to Ensure your Benefits Quote is Actually for a Comparable Plan
5 Key Areas to Check to Ensure your Benefits Quote is Actually for a Comparable Plan Inflation is on everyone’s mind; wherever you look, prices are rising. Unfortunately, benefit plans are not exempt from this. When the cost of dentist visits, medical items and procedures goes up, the result is often higher claims. This can […]
Top 8 FAQs for Business Owners when Implementing an Employee Benefits Plan
By Howard Cheung, Account Executive, Immix Group: An Employee Benefits Company 1. How much does it cost to provide Employee Benefits? Cost is often first thing that comes to mind when considering employee benefits. How much to budget, per employee, and what does this cover? Without an existing benefits program or past claims experience, insurers use […]
Hybrid Traditional + Flexible Employee Benefits: A Sample Design for SMBs
By Howard Cheung, Account Executive, Immix Group: An Employee Benefits Company You are a small or mid-size business. You want affordable employee benefits with costs that you partially control – while having peace of mind that you can provide for unexpected health/drug claims. Read on! This article might just be the benefits blueprint you’re looking […]
Market Update: Stay Calm, Stay the Course
By Anthony Ciccone, President A message from Anthony Ciccone, President Many of you are feeling concerned about the unprecedented events we are experiencing, and specifically, the severe impact on the financial markets. Three months ago, no one knew what COVID-19 was; now it is impacting everyone. This is uncomfortable; we are all feeling the angst. The […]
BC’s Medical Services Plan: What is MSP – and what does it have to do with your benefits plan?
This blog is from 2017, and due to legislative changes in BC, MSP employer payments were cancelled. Please read more here: https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/health/health-drug-coverage/msp/bc-residents/premiums ———————————— By Katie Wray, Immix Group / March 30, 2017 The three certainties that come along with living in British Columbia: death, taxes – and Medical Services Plan (MSP) premium increases. Prior to joining Immix […]
Conversion Plans- Individual Health Care & Dental Plans
By Lindsay Davis, Vice President, Immix Group | Feb 03, 2016 Help ensure individuals do not lose coverage between jobs and in retirement When changing employers, leaving a company, or retiring from the workforce, considering healthcare and dental costs and options can be stressful for many people. A gap in health and dental coverage can […]
Generic Drugs: Fact vs. Fiction
By Katie Wray, Immix Group Nov 15, 2015 Discussions surrounding prescription drugs tend to take up a large part of any employee benefits renewal meeting. On average, for a typical Canadian small business, prescription drug claims make up 50-70% of the extended health care claims in any given renewal year. Over the past few years, we […]
Emergency travel: The hidden insurance in benefit plans
By Katie Wray, Immix Group Did you know that most benefits plans include emergency travel insurance? Most clients and their employees either don’t know of this hidden benefit, or they’ve forgotten it. And, if they do happen to remember it, they probably don’t realize just how extensive their emergency coverage is for travel outside the province […]