Insurable Interest Canadian Insurance Blog

Pandemic travel medical insurance now available to all Canadians, covering up to $500,000 in COVID-19 related emergencies Vancouver, BC (Oct. 15, 2020) – Recently, both major Canadian airlines announced that customers booking flights through them may receive COVID-19 medical insurance. But be warned, these insurance policies have many stipulations that might not be suitable for you. For example, the first airline doesn’t include insurance for flights to the United States. And the second airline only includes insurance for flights booked by October 31, 2020. So, what should you do if you are traveling to the United States, you don’t book by airline’s deadline, or you are travelling with another airline? Or, what if you’re traveling by car? Your best option is to explore a stand-alone pandemic medical insurance policy like the one launched by Goose Insurance Services in partnership with Lloyd’s of London and MSH INTERNATIONAL (CANADA) LTD. For as little as $99 annually, Canadians will be protected up to $500,000 of coverage for pandemic-related emergency medical treatment while traveling. What’s more, the policy covers you when you travel 200kms or more outside of your principal residence within your home country or anywhere in the world. With this policy you...

Staff | October 19, 2020 The Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System’s infrastructure arm is selling its interest in the Detroit River tunnel partnership to Canadian Pacific. The sale, which will give CP full ownership of the rail tunnel, is expected to generate approximately US$312 million for the OMERS. “We are very proud of the value we have created with this investment for OMERS members,” said Michael Ryder, senior managing director and head of Americas for OMERS Infrastructure, in a press release. Read: OMERS investing in Australian electricity firm, CPPIB in North American food company “Our work with CP represents a strong example of our global investment approach in action – collaborating with a trusted strategic partner as long-term owners and developers of a major international transportation link.” The OMERS first invested in the partnership in 2001. “It has been a pleasure to work with the CP team to ensure safe, reliable operations of this important infrastructure asset for commercial users and regional stakeholders,” said Peter Gray, director of OMERS Infrastructure. “We sincerely thank CP for its partnership and we wish them continued success.” Read: OMERS posts 11.9% return for 2019 led by public equities Read the full article at BenefitsCanada.com

Staff  | October 19, 2020 The costs of employer medical benefits around the globe are forecasted to rise 7.2 per cent in 2021, outpacing general inflation by five per cent, according to a new medical trends report by Aon. “There is still a significant amount of uncertainty regarding COVID-19’s impact on deferred treatments and long-term health care,” said Tim Nimmer, Aon’s chief global actuary for health solutions, in a press release. “While countries navigate through different outbreak phases, the expectation is that medical plan utilization will return to normal levels during 2021 as medical services begin to reopen to the market.”  The projected medical trend rates vary significantly by region. In the Middle East and Africa regions, costs are expected to increase the most, with a forecast of 12.2 per cent in 2021. In contrast, Europe is expected to see an average medical trend rate increase of 5.5 per cent, while North America is expected to see a rate of seven per cent. Read: Canadian health benefits costs expected to grow 6% in 2020: report To mitigate costs, more employers are turning to well-being programs, such as preventive strategies like physical check-ups, screenings, healthy eating and physical activity promotional programs, to reduce chronic conditions,...

By Dan Gordon, CTO, Sønr — If you want to stay on top of technological innovation in insurance, you need to consider far more than just insurance startups. You need to be looking at all technology that can impact the sector. Tech and Deep Tech have the potential to refashion the industry, so to stay on top of the next big innovations, you need to watch and respond to a much wider set of organizations. You should be considering all the technologies that can be viewed as both a competitor insurance and an enabler to help bring change. Suddenly this is a much wider horizon to scan and the number of organizations grows massively. But so does the number of opportunities. Now we have a really interesting problem to stay on top of it all. Let’s dive into the data to get a better understanding of how big the space is. What innovation should you be tracking? When we first launched Sønr at the start of 2018, we were presenting around 6,000 startups focused purely on insurance and major insurance companies and an additional 6,000 associated organizations. What quickly became apparent was that this was only a small subset of...

Systemic barriers in the legal medical cannabis system are forcing patients into unregulated and recreational markets without support from a health care professional, according to national non-profit group Medical Cannabis Canada (MCC). In its inaugural Medical Cannabis Patient Survey (MCPS), the organization found that only 37% of Canadians who use cannabis medically have a “medical document,” which is similar to a prescription from a health care practitioner. That creates a catch-22 for many patients, MCC said. The medical system requires patients to have a medical document, but patients without a medical document report substantially less engagement with health care practitioners. Against that backdrop, a greater number of patients without the document report going to unregulated markets to access their treatment. Based on the MCPS findings, 74% of marijuana patients who have a medical document go to a health care practitioner or pharmacist to guide their use of medical marijuana. In contrast, just 24% of those who’ve never gotten a medical document said the same. “Unfortunately, there is little incentive to access a medical document or use the legal medical channel and many are being left to manage their treatment alone,” said Max Monahan-Ellison, Medical Cannabis Canada Board Member and MCPS...

Systemic barriers in the legal medical cannabis system are forcing patients into unregulated and recreational markets without support from a health care professional, according to national non-profit group Medical Cannabis Canada (MCC). In its inaugural Medical Cannabis Patient Survey (MCPS), the organization found that only 37% of Canadians who use cannabis medically have a “medical document,” which is similar to a prescription from a health care practitioner. That creates a catch-22 for many patients, MCC said. The medical system requires patients to have a medical document, but patients without a medical document report substantially less engagement with health care practitioners. Against that backdrop, a greater number of patients without the document report going to unregulated markets to access their treatment. Based on the MCPS findings, 74% of marijuana patients who have a medical document go to a health care practitioner or pharmacist to guide their use of medical marijuana. In contrast, just 24% of those who’ve never gotten a medical document said the same. “Unfortunately, there is little incentive to access a medical document or use the legal medical channel and many are being left to manage their treatment alone,” said Max Monahan-Ellison, Medical Cannabis Canada Board Member and MCPS...

Star (Shelby, NC) Oct. 18–When Christina McKinney took on a career in the insurance sales business, she not only found a job she loved, but she carried on a tradition that has now been in her family for four generations. McKinney said her grandfather was in insurance sales, then her father, and when she turned 18 she wasn’t sure what she wanted to pursue. She said she grew up in Shelby and her dad managed an agency in town. “My dad said just try it,” she said. She ended up getting her license and going to work at 19. “I loved it,” she said. “It was something I fell in love with.” Advertisement She discovered she enjoyed working with and helping people and has been in the business ever since. Now her sons both work in the field as well, carrying it on for a fourth generation. McKinney has run a successful business, CRM Insurance Services, in Forest City since 2006 and just opened a new office in Shelby earlier this month on North Morgan Street beside the license plate agency. CRM Insurance Services provides home, business, auto and life insurance. McKinney said her husband also has an insurance business,...

Staff | October 16, 2020 Manulife Investment Management Holdings (Canada) Inc. has been named to the Principles for Responsible Investment’s PRI leaders’ group 2020 in recognition of its ‘cutting edge’ practices in climate reporting, one of 36 signatories honoured this year. In its assessment, the PRI awarded Manulife Investment Management an A+ in the areas of strategy and governance, equity integration and sovereign, supranational and agency debt fixed-income integration. It was also given an A in real estate, equity active ownership and fixed income (corporate financial, corporate non-financial and securitized) and a B in infrastructure and private equity, two asset classes that were submitted for the first time. Read: Benefits of integrating ESG include long-term alpha, minimized risk: survey Manulife Investment Management included the PRI’s grading in its second annual sustainable and responsible investing report. Highlights from private markets in 2019 included the formalization of a robust governance structure for its sustainable investing program and active participation in industry associations, while in public markets, the investment manager advanced the integration of environmental, social and governance factors and active engagement across its equity and fixed-income capabilities. The report also includes the inaugural update by the company’s task force for climate-related financial disclosure, which details the firm’s approach to climate-related sustainability governance and...

Staff | October 16, 2020 Mindful Employer Canada is launching an online mental-health training program. The program focuses on the various support tools and strategies available for employers to use when dealing with mental-health issues in the workplace. It also offers education on commitment-based management, having difficult conversations and fair process leadership. “Becoming a certified Mindful Leader is an important accreditation, especially in today’s ever-changing landscape of navigating the impacts the pandemic has on mental health,” said Sarah Jenner, executive director at Mindful Employer Canada, in a press release. Read: Canadians hesitant to access mental-health supports, despite declines during pandemic When organizations invest in mental-health training on how to effectively address workplace challenges in a way that also protects and supports employee mental health, the result is positive changes in leadership success, team culture, employee retention and disability statistics, she added. “We know the workplace can affect an employee’s mental health and the reality is employees aren’t settling for toxic workplaces and detrimental leaders anymore. Employees are looking for workplaces that prioritize employee well-being and mental health.” The second course in the program will be available November 2020. Read: 81% of Canadians say coronavirus is negatively affecting their mental health: survey Read the full article at BenefitsCanada.com

New offering will automate calculation of taxes and fees to ensure accuracy San Diego, CA (Oct. 14, 2020) – Mitchell, a leading provider of technology, connectivity and information solutions to the Property & Casualty (P&C) claims and Collision Repair industries, is pleased to announce its collaboration with Claim Toolkit, a leading provider of knowledge management and decision support tools to the P&C market for the past 20 years. The two companies have joined forces to offer an integrated system to streamline and automate the complex process of correctly calculating taxes and fees for total loss payments given jurisdictional specifics—helping insurers reduce settlement time, increase customer satisfaction and maintain compliance with governmental regulations. The joint offering will be featured at this week’s Mitchell mPower Conference and availability is expected in early 2021 for U.S. customers. “Constant statutory and regulatory changes and complex government back office procedures make it difficult for insurers to definitively know what taxes and fees they should pay on total losses,” said T. Mark Fay, President and Founder of Claim Toolkit. “Through Mitchell’s WorkCenter® Total Loss solution and Claim Toolkit’s Total Loss Taxes and Fees, we can provide carriers with the information needed to help them determine fair...