Group benefits for your New Brunswick employees
New Brunswick is officially bilingual, and that is not a formality when it comes to benefits: a plan your francophone employees cannot read is a plan they will not use.
We are not licensed in New Brunswick. Placing business for a New Brunswick-headquartered employer requires licensing recognised by the Financial and Consumer Services Commission (FCNB). This page is written for employers headquartered elsewhere who have staff living in New Brunswick — a situation we handle constantly. If you need a locally licensed broker, tell us and we will say so rather than stretch.
What is different about a benefits plan in New Brunswick
Four things vary by province, and all four change what your plan should look like.
Public plan — New Brunswick Medicare
Drug program — New Brunswick Drug Plan
Employer payroll tax — None
Taxable benefit treatment
Payroll tax thresholds, rates and drug program details are set in provincial budgets and change. The summary above reflects our 2026 review and is general information, not tax advice — confirm current-year figures with the New Brunswick finance ministry or your accountant before you budget from them.
Designing for New Brunswick, not for a template
Official bilingualism means booklets, enrolment materials and claims support should be genuinely available in both languages — not translated once and left to drift. Carriers vary widely on this, and it is a legitimate scoring criterion in a market survey for a New Brunswick employer.
Talk it throughWhere New Brunswick employees are
- Moncton
- Saint John
- Fredericton
- Dieppe
- Miramichi
- Bathurst
- Regulator
- Financial and Consumer Services Commission (FCNB)
- Public health plan
- New Brunswick Medicare
- Employer payroll tax
- None
Coverage for New Brunswick employees
The same eight practice areas, tuned to what the public plan here does and does not do.
Extended Health & Dental
The core of every plan — and where most of the money goes.
Learn moreDisability, Life & Critical Illness
The coverage nobody thinks about until the worst week of their life.
Learn moreHealth & Wellness Spending Accounts
Flexible dollars for a workforce that wants different things.
Learn moreMental Health & EAP
The fastest-growing line of claims in the country.
Learn moreGroup Retirement & Savings
Group RRSP, DPSP, TFSA and pension — coordinated with the benefits plan.
Learn moreRenewal Strategy & Marketing
The part most brokers do once a year in an email. We do it all year.
Learn moreAdministration & Compliance Support
We take the plan admin off your HR team’s desk.
Learn moreExecutive & Owner Benefits
For the people whose departure would change the business.
Learn moreQuestions employers actually ask us
No hedging. If the honest answer is “you do not need us for that,” that is the answer you will get.
New Brunswick is Canada’s only officially bilingual province, and while private employer obligations differ from public-sector ones, the practical answer is yes if you want the plan used. We score carriers on genuine French-language member service, not just a translated PDF.
It is designed for residents without private coverage, so your group plan pays first for enrolled employees. Where it becomes relevant is for retirees coming off your plan and for dependants you have chosen not to cover — both worth a deliberate decision at design time.
Placing business for a New Brunswick-headquartered employer requires licensing through the Financial and Consumer Services Commission. Where we help most readers here is as the broker on a plan issued elsewhere that covers New Brunswick staff. If you need a locally licensed broker, ask and we will say so.
Employees in more than one province?
Multi-provincial groups are routine for us. Here is what changes everywhere else:
Send us your renewal. We will tell you the truth about it.
A 30-minute call and a look at your last statement is usually enough for us to say whether you are being well served in New Brunswick. If you are, we will say so.
An advisor reads it and replies personally — it does not go to a call centre.