Group Benefit Coverage

Group Insurance is an insurance plan that protects a group of people's financial security in one or more ways, such as offering low-cost life insurance or a dental plan for the self-employed. A group can comprise (or “be composed of”) members of an association, a company's employees, or professionals in a group such as lawyers or doctors.

Insurers realize that people belong to the group because of their field of work, occupation or an association. Thus the group is removed from the acquisition of insurance due to a higher than normal health, work, or environmental risk.

Personalized Solutions for your Specific Needs:

Putting our clients first, we seek to get the best plan for each sponsoring group while meeting their unique objectives. As brokers, we represent a wide selection of the top insurers. Group benefit plans are designed with the membership of the group in mind. We assess the needs closely to unify with an insurer with the most suitable coverage and price.

Group insurance plans can include a combination of coverages, including:

• Group Life Insurance offers financial assistance in the event of the plan member's death. A Group Dependent Life Insurance plan pays out a lump-sum benefit to a beneficiary in the event of the death of a plan member's spouse or dependent children.
• Group Short-Term Disability (STD) or Weekly Indemnity is a benefit that compensates an employee for income lost due to a short absence from work due to an accident or sickness.
• Group Long-Term Disability (LTD) coverage provides an income to a disabled employee unable to perform the duties of his or her own occupation.
• Group Extended Health Care Benefit supplements medical costs for plan members and dependents otherwise not included by provincial healthcare.
• Group Dental Care covers varying dental services and/or supplies for plan members and their eligible dependents.
• Employee Assistance Plan is a professional counselling and referral service sponsored by the employer to provide service to employees and their family members.

Other Advanced Plans include:

• Vision Care pays for routine eye exam and a percentage of eye glasses and lenses.
• Critical Illness provides a benefit paid to an employee after surviving an ailment from list of critical illnesses or injury to provide financial assistance while adjusting to any change of lifestyle during recovery.
• Group Pension Plan is a program maintained by an employer, an employee organization, or both to fund retirement income to employees or defer income for periods that extend to or beyond employment termination.
• Health Care Spending Account (HCSA or HSA) is an individual employee account that reimburses eligible health care expenses or other benefits not covered by provincial health insurance. This offers a tax-effective way to offer health and dental benefit choices for self-service to plan members.
• Administrative Services Only Program (ASO) enables large employers to self-insure health insurance, dental care and short-term disability insurance benefits by supplying administrative functions for their health care claims processing with methods to contain costs.

This information is intended to general educative reference only. This group material is not a specific piece of advice for any one situation as every solution is different.