Employee Benefits Basics

Beneplan is excited to be adding Allstate Canada as a provider on its TPA platform for group benefits, and the reason why they were chosen as a provider for group critical illness, especially distributed on an individual voluntary basis, is because their contracts and terms and conditions show that they will pay claims faster and more often with expanded definitions compared to other products. Ben...

Canadian healthcare is going through a shift. Whether you believe universal healthcare is better than 'two-tiered' healthcare or vice versa, Canadian business leaders have been teaching each other how to pay to 'shorten the wait' for decades. Obtaining legal private healthcare in Canada can mean many things - pledging to donate money...and then kindly mentioning to your main point...

Traditional group long term disability plans in Canada are centered around paying an employee for lost wages if their disability prevents them from earning an income. But what happens when the employee can't work because their SPOUSE or CHILD is disabled and the employee is their caregiver? Should they be paid? Beneplan CEO and Canadian group benefits expert Yafa Sakkejha speaks to Philippe Be...

Today, we talk about how supporting an entrepreneur in my personal life lead to 12 leads coming in (that I shared with other benefits advisors), doing mental math in your head, removing the fear of being black listed, and The Gruffalo.

Sonny wrote in to ask, 'what conversations or questions should we ask with a new client who is looking to set up a new employee benefit plan, or looking to leave their current group insurance broker?' Thanks for the question Sonny, and here's my take. Group benefits can be complex, especially in Canada, so we start with a 50,000 foot view and start to dig deeper from there.

In this unsponsored episode, Yafa Sakkejha, CEO of Beneplan, has a conversation with Mitch Hanlon, Vice President of Business Development at Claimsecure, to learn about their custom and unique Formulary Protect management program - plus how he started his own business, how he sold to business owners, and where he sees the industry going.

For Canadian employee benefits advisors: My attention as a business owner was caught when someone commented on my podcast, left us a google review, engaged with me on social media, saw me in my personal life in community work, and invited me to an offline event at the expense of the Canadian group insurance company.

If you're an employee benefits advisor, it's important that you're aware of what captive insurance companies are, why they matter, and how it might intersect with your daily work. If you're a plan sponsor, it's good to know that you have an option to explore captives for your own insurance risk.

The GSC strike is now over, the call centre will be open again Monday April 22, 2024 for group benefits and group insurance phone calls from plan members. We're anticipating a higher than normal call centre volume on Monday.

Some Unifor divisions went on strike March 1 2024 especially those staff who answer the call centre phones for group benefits insurance questions. Let's see what happens over the next few days.

The Canadian budget presented in Parliament yesterday doesn't affect group benefits plans, but does affect independent insurance or financial advisors if and when they want to sell or transition their business, by way of a capital gain.

It's become more popular than ever for employee benefits clients to request that their payroll provider or human resources information system (HRIS) "connects" directly to their insurance carrier. This is doable and possible, but there is a lot of work to be done to ensure a clean file of data can pass through the systems. Here is how to project manage this if it comes across your desk.

It's critical to make sure you look out for opportunities to waive the premiums on pooled benefits where applicable. Here are 3 examines in the Canadian group benefits market.

Let me know what you want to hear about next: how to sell your brokerage? How to sell & prospect? How to manufacture your own products? How to get out of tough legal situations? How to come back to work after having a baby? Let me know at yafa@beneplan.ca or Yafa Sakkejha on LinkedIn

We have been told as Canadians to expect some form of universal national pharmacare since 2018. This new announcement by the NDP is vague, uninspiring, and unclear. Therefore, I'm not motivated to change what we're doing as employee benefits advisors and TPAs. Health insurance is complex in Canada and it's important not to take for granted the heavy lifting required to change infrastructure.

Let's get into the backlash that Manulife and Loblaws grocery experienced when they tried last week to roll out a preferred pharmacy network for 260 specialty drugs. This is a common employee benefits group health insurance tactic used to save money, but it needs to be heavily socialized in Canada and might ultimately fail.

Employee benefits plans sometimes come with optional add-ons, like employee assistance programs (EAPs). These can cost around $5 per person, per month (PEPM). Large group benefits purchasers usually find better success negotiating this on a pay-as-you-go (PAYG) basis.

Employee benefits in Canada can be taxable - or not - depending on which specific product, depending on who is paying the premium, and under what circumstances. It's best to read the CRA canada.ca revenue Canada taxable benefits employers guide. You can also call them to ask more questions. Group life and long term disability insurance premiums are taxable benefits. Medical expenses in cash are al...

The holidays are coming and it's a popular time for travel out of the province or country. Educate clients about the pre-existing condition clauses in emergency medical travel insurance, remind people not to give their credit card to a hospital, and what to say to a plan member when they're getting collections calls from a hospital outside of their home province.

The employee benefits industry probably has conflict every single day of the year. Here's a conversation pattern that I use to start a conversation with an opposing party. How to diffuse, de-escalate and move forward together to solve problems. Health insurance can create many negative emotions and it's important to not take things personally.

If you're looking to save money on dental premiums, make sure that if you decide to cover a previous year's fee guide, you tell the carrier to code it in a "this year minus 1" or minus 2, etc, not the specific year. That year will get stale and embarrassing as it ages. I've come across two plans like this and it was a recipe for disaster for the group and advisor.

At Beneplan, we hired a Drug Advocate to help small businesses leverage government and pharma cost sharing for high cost medication, in order to significantly reduce group health insurance premiums. Employee benefits brokers will learn the landscape of high cost drug programs in Canada in this episode. yafa@beneplan.ca

Canadian health insurance can be complicated， but nothing confuses or scares people quite like explaining what a price level agreement is: the ubiquitous PLA. Also known as a drug rebate, volume discount or even -gasp- kickback - this highly controversial area of group insurance is something everyone should know about. Narrated by Yafa Sakkejha, CEO of Beneplan and licensed broker.

The sharp rise in the dental fee guide in Canada means that we're seeing higher increases across group benefits dental premiums in 2023 and 2024. Here is a list of ways you can help your clients trim costs without cutting the benefit entirely.

I know it's tempting, but extending extended health and dental benefits or group insurance to Canadian independent contractors may cause the business to fail the employee test with the CRA and therefore owe back taxes, penalties and interest. Here are some other options.