Insurable Interest Canadian Insurance Blog

Kelsey Rolfe | August 28, 2020 Plan members living with insomnia or sleep problems could benefit from sleep-specific cognitive behavioural therapy programs accessible through their benefits plans. “One of the key things I’m going to say is benefits plans should offer some sort of online cognitive therapy for sleep,” said Atul Khullar, medical director of the Northern Alberta Sleep Clinic, in a session during Benefits Canada‘s 2020 Plan Sponsor Week earlier this month. “This would help me as a sleep specialist because if [patients have] done this [and found little or no relief], I can be a little more aggressive with medications.” While 30 to 40 per cent of adults experience insomnia symptoms, only nine to 13 per cent meet the diagnostic criteria for an actual disorder, he noted. Even so, sleep issues among plan members — which can be linked to mental-health issues, chronic pain or medical conditions — are a large productivity cost to plan sponsors. Read: Majority of Canadians suffering from a mental-health issue, sleeping disorder: survey “Good sleepers are much less of an economic burden than people with insomnia disorders and even individuals with a little bit of insomnia symptoms. So even if you have some insomnia symptoms, some early intervention, I think, would be warranted.” He pointed to...

Empire Life is joining a wave of insurance providers that are beefing up their group insurance plans with telemedicine services as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to hamper in-person consultations. Starting on September 1, all group plan members with Empire Life group health benefits will be automatically given access to the new service provided by Teladoc Health. After setting up a Teladoc profile, group plan members will be able to connect with a doctor in minutes, or set an appointment time if they wish. “We’re hugely excited to bring this timely and convenient service to our customers,” said Vanessa Lycos, vice president, Group Product and Marketing at Empire Life. Citing figures from the Angus Reid Institute, she said nearly two out of five Canadians report having faced COVID-19-related barriers to medical care. According to Statistics Canada, nearly five million Canadians do not have a regular care provider. Meanwhile, the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) reports only 16% of primary care doctors have capacity and are accepting new patients who request an appointment, and just 43% of Canadians report being able to get a same- or next-day appointment at their regular place of care when they last needed medical attention. “With...

Coefficient established to help employers realize greater value through “precision risk,” a new data-driven solution to employer stop-loss insurance Palo Alto, CA (Aug. 25, 2020) – Verily, an Alphabet company, is announcing a new subsidiary, Coefficient Insurance Company, that will be backed by Swiss Re Corporate Solutions, the commercial insurance unit of the Swiss Re Group. Coefficient will combine innovative health technology solutions with novel insurance and payment models. Its precision risk solution helps self-funded employers to control cost volatility through a data-driven model that is unique in the traditional employer stop-loss market. Employer stop-loss is a segment of commercial insurance that protects self-funded employers from unexpected and large employee health benefit claims by reimbursing employers for claims above a defined amount. Coefficient will leverage Verily’s core strengths integrating hardware, software and data science and will also leverage Swiss Re Corporate Solutions’s risk knowledge, distribution capabilities and reputation in the employer stop-loss market. Coefficient’s precision risk solution is designed to provide self-funded employers with more predictable benefit plan protection. It uses an analytics-based underwriting engine to identify unexpected areas of cost volatility, and cover those exposures with more dynamic and precise insurance policy provisions. Over time, Coefficient plans to integrate...

Staff  | August 27, 2020 The average Canadian employee will have to accumulate 10.9 times their final pay to maintain the same spendable income once they retire, according to a new report by Aon. The report defines retirement income adequacy as having the same spendable income after retirement as before, taking into account changes in savings, taxes, medical expenses and other factors. It compares the anticipated accumulation of retirement savings (as a multiple of final pay) to the target accumulation required to maintain an employee’s standard of living after retirement. “The retirement readiness gap is real for Canadian workers,” said William da Silva, senior partner and Canadian director of retirement solutions at Aon, in a press release. “This is an opportunity for employers to ask the right questions: Are contribution levels appropriate and designed in alignment with the plan sponsor’s objectives? Are employees equipped with resources to manage their finances and plan for their retirement? Do employees understand the impacts of medical cost inflation and other post-retirement expenses? Clearly, there’s a need to look both at the substance of workplace retirement programs and at the ‘soft’ levers of education and information.” Read: Retirement system must reflect Canadians working longer: report The report...

Staff | August 27, 2020 The federal government is seeking applications to appoint new full- and part-time members to its social security tribunal, the arm’s length entity responsible for decisions on appeals relating to Canada Pension Plan, employment insurance and old-age security. Members of the SST’s general division operate as first-level decision-makers and are tasked with providing fair hearing and decisions on these appeals. “I look forward to welcoming well-qualified and diverse applicants from communities across Canada to the member positions on the social security tribunal,” said Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Disability Inclusion Carla Qualtrough, in a press release. Read: Feds update appeals process for EI, CPP and OAS “SST members are integral to ensuring the country’s most vulnerable Canadians can benefit from an efficient, fair and transparent appeals process. Their decisions are vital to the economic security and well-being of those Canadians who appeal to them, many of whom face significant challenges in accessing justice.” Full-time member appointments last five years while part-time appointments are for two years. Applications close Sept. 18, 2020. Read the full article at BenefitsCanada.com

Staff  | August 27, 2020 Janitors working at Loyalist College in Belleville, Ont. have a new ratified contract that includes a pension plan, sick days and a wage increase. The employees, represented by the Services Employees International Union Local 2 and working for the food services company Compass Group Canada Ltd., entered bargaining with major concerns around the lack of sick days and low wages, according to a press release from the union. Previously, they had no employer-provided sick days, only those provided by the province. Under the new agreement, they have two sick days, which can also be used as personal days, wrote Assya Moustaqim-Barrette, the union’s communications coordinator, in an email to Benefits Canada. Read: Union agreement for legal aid workers includes vision care, sick leave In terms of the wage increase, employees were previously paid $14.75 an hour. The hourly rate will rise $0.25 an hour and will increase gradually year by year until it reaches $15.70/hour on Jan. 1, 2022. And, beginning on July 1, 2022, all eligible employees will be enrolled in the Multi-Sector Pension Plan, which was established in 2001 by the Canadian Union of Public Employees and the SEIU after the unions observed a lack of pension coverage in...

The Canadian Press | August 26, 2020 Brookfield Asset Management Inc. is appointing Mark Carney as vice-chair and head of environmental, social and governance and impact fund investing. Carney is currently the United Nations’ special envoy for climate action and finance, and was formerly governor of the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England. He has long advocated for action on climate change. Read: CPPIB and Brookfield compete to acquire Australian company In the new role, he’ll work on the development of a group of funds that will combine positive social and environmental outcomes with strong risk-adjusted returns, according to Brookfield. “Building on our track record in renewable investing, Mark will help accelerate our efforts to combine better long-term outcomes for society with strong risk-adjusted returns,” said Bruce Flatt, the investment manager’s chief executive officer, in a statement. “Mark’s insights and perspectives will add tremendous value to our global investing activities for the benefit of our investors.” Read the full article at BenefitsCanada.com

Staff  | August 26, 2020 The Empire Life Insurance Co. is adding telemedicine services to its group benefits plans. Beginning Sept. 1, 2020, all employees whose plan sponsors offer Empire Life’s group benefits will automatically have access to the new service, provided by Teladoc Health. “Nearly two in five Canadians say they have faced COVID-related barriers to medical care,” said Vanessa Lycos, vice-president of group product and marketing, in a press release, referring to an Angus Reid survey conducted in May 2020. Read: Canadians cite 91% satisfaction rate with virtual health care “With telemedicine, talking to a doctor is safe, simple, fast and easy — any time of the day or night, 365 days a year. And with no travel time or time in the waiting room, it may also help reduce absenteeism, which is a growing problem for employers.” Empire Life already provides other Teladoc Health services including its Best Doctors expert medical services, which it added in 2018, and its mental-health navigator service, added earlier in 2020. Read the full article at BenefitsCanada.com

By Stephen Applebaum, Insurance Solutions Group — This is a companion article to “Working-from-Home: Infecting People and Organizations in Insurance,” published on Aug. 17. As if our lives and the world in which we find ourselves aren’t confusing enough, for those of us working in the insurance industry ecosystem there are also less obvious threats that we should understand clearly in order to plan and succeed in an uncertain future. There is a general perception that the insurance industry is doing surprisingly well in the face of a global pandemic. It’s true that the redeployment of thousands of employees from physical offices to work-from-home was accomplished very quickly and with minimal loss of productivity or gaps in customer service. It is also true that insurers, specifically auto insurers, have enjoyed an earnings windfall from the dramatic and sudden drop-off in vehicle use and the accompanying reduction in auto claims (even after premium reductions). And so, one might also conclude that industry innovation and transformation continues apace – but that’s only partially correct. The Twin Realities A closer examination of the evidence reveals that there are actually two extremely different states existing within the insurance ecosystem, essentially comprised of the larger,...

$6.5 million Series A funding co-led by Real Ventures & Investissement Québec, plus $5 million in debt financing and grants led by National Bank of Canada Montreal, QC (Aug. 26, 2020) – Breathe Life, the enterprise SaaS platform provider for the life insurance industry, is pleased to announce it has secured an additional $11.5 million CAD in funding to enhance its digital distribution platform for insurance carriers. The $6.5 million Series A was co-led by Real Ventures & Investissement Québec with participation from Clocktower Technology Ventures, Cameron Ventures, Desjardins, NAventures, and Diagram Ventures. The remaining $5 million is made up of a $4.2 million debt financing from National Bank of Canada’s Technology and Innovation Banking Group and various government grants. Breathe Life provides insurers a modern digital platform for the distribution of life insurance products that increases sales and speed of policy delivery while reducing operational costs. Breathe Life enables carriers to quickly deliver a fully-branded, user-centric experience that streamlines the online buying process for consumers. This “ease of engagement” is especially important as carriers continue to navigate the global coronavirus pandemic, which has largely eliminated traditional face-to-face sales and paper-based distribution processes. “In our current global context there is...