51% Of Canadians Expect Continued Access to Employer Health Benefits After Retirement

(3BL Media) Laval, Quebec - June 26, 2012 - The 15th edition of the Sanofi Canada Healthcare survey reveals new and important findings for employees and employers alike. The 2012 survey indicates that 51% of Canadians expect they will continue to have access to their healthcare benefits after retirement which may not necessarily be the case. This information will have an important impact on the baby boomers who have just begun to retire.

“Employers shouldn’t waste any time educating employees on what happens to health benefits upon retirement,” suggests Pierre Marion of Medavie Blue Cross. “Right now employees are not factoring healthcare costs into their retirement planning. Many will be in for a surprise when they realize that extended benefits may not be available.”

Highly regarded as a credible reference tool for employers, insurers, benefit consultants and other private payer stakeholders, the Sanofi Canada Healthcare Survey explores the opinions and perceptions of Canadian employees and employers from a wide range of industries about their health benefit programs.  The survey also interprets the findings to help employers and key stakeholders better manage employee health benefits.  “Sanofi Canada is a patient-focused healthcare company,” says Stanislav Glezer, Vice President, Evidence, Value and Access at Sanofi, “for 15 years the Sanofi Canada Healthcare Survey reveals data that is important to employees and employers, allowing them to optimize the management of their health benefit plans and access good healthcare.”

Complete results of the survey can be accessed at: www.sanofi.ca.

64% OF EMPLOYERS WITH HEALTH BENEFIT PLANS DO NOT KNOW EMPLOYEE ABSENTEEISM RATE

Surprisingly, only 38% of employers with health benefit plans formally track absenteeism, and another 35% say they do so informally and 64% admitted that they simply do not know when asked what their absenteeism rate is. "Employees are the most important asset for an organization. Not having the systems or processes in place to track and analyze why employees are absent is a missed opportunity to manage one of your biggest investments," says advisory board member and VP Marketing, Group Benefits, Marilee Mark. "Analyzing absence trends can identify opportunities to increase productivity and employee health that impact the bottom line."

92% OF PLAN MEMBERS WOULD LIKELY PARTICIPATE IN HEALTH RISK SCREENINGS

Almost all Canadians surveyed indicated that they would participate in on-site health risk screenings for conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, stress or depression. This opens the doors to many workplace initiatives and targeted education. According to Serge Langlois, president and CEO of Diabète Québec: “When you prevent chronic disease, you bring down healthcare costs. Everybody looks at how much coverage costs, but we need to look at it the other way around.”

“When you consider that employers have access to over half the Canadian population, it simply makes sense that a strategic workplace wellness culture will have a tremendous impact on population health and overall workforce productivity,” said Stanislav Glezer.

ABOUT THE SURVEY
The 2012 edition of The Sanofi Canada Healthcare Survey was conducted between January 11 and 18, 2012 by Ipsos Reid on behalf of Rogers Business and Professional Publishing using an online (Internet survey) methodology.  A total national sample of 1,757 primary holders of group health benefit plans completed the study. Completed interviews were conducted using a random sample drawn from the 200,000+ members of the Ipsos Reid Canadian i-Say Panel.

Overall results have a 95% certainty within +/- 2.3% of what they would have been had the entire population of Canadian plan members been polled. The data has been statistically weighted to ensure that the age, gender, and regional composition of the sample reflect the adult population according to the 2006 Census data.

In addition, Rogers Business and Professional Publishing conducted 125 online surveys with benefit plan sponsors from across the country from January 12th to 18th, 2012.

Members of the survey’s Advisory Board are among the most highly esteemed professionals in the Canadian health benefit industry with each member representing an essential industry stakeholder, including health benefit plan sponsors, healthcare service providers, insurers and consultants. For more information about The Sanofi Canada Healthcare Survey, including the complete text of this year’s report, please visit www.sanofi.ca.

ABOUT SANOFI
Sanofi, a global and diversified healthcare leader, discovers, develops and distributes therapeutic solutions focused on patients’ needs. Sanofi has core strengths in the field of healthcare with seven growth platforms: diabetes solutions, human vaccines, innovative drugs, consumer healthcare, emerging markets, animal health and the new Genzyme. Sanofi is listed in Paris (EURONEXT: SAN) and in New York (NYSE: SNY).

Sanofi companies in Canada include sanofi-aventis Canada Inc. (pharmaceuticals), Sanofi Pasteur (vaccines), Sanofi Consumer Health (health and beauty), Genzyme (rare diseases) and Merial (animal health). Together they employ more than 1,700 people, mainly in the greater Montreal and Toronto areas. In 2011 Sanofi companies invested $151.7 million in R&D in Canada, creating jobs, business and opportunity throughout the country.

For more information please contact:
Joanne Kennedy
Communications, Sanofi Canada
514-956-4188
joanne.kennedy@sanofi.com