Group Critical Insurance
Individual Critical Illness plans are becoming prohibitively expensive for many. This is due to various factors that now include personal and family medical history. Group Critical Illness insurance is the vehicle that can provide critical illness benefits to many consumers who would otherwise be unable to afford or qualify for such a plan.
According to the Heart and Stroke Foundation the cost of living through such a critical illness is estimated at well
over $100,000 when the cost for rehabilitation services or travel to a treatment centre and loss of income during recuperation are taken into consideration. An Ipsos-Reid survey taken a few years ago indicated 54% of Canadians would use personal savings, investments and retirement funds to cover these costs, while another 17% would mortgage their house.
How do employees feel about Group Critical Illness insurance? According to a Sanofi-Aventis Healthcare Survey taken in 2007 "an overwhelming majority of
employees surveyed would be willing to personally pay for Critical Illness insurance".
What are employers saying about it? Survey results by a large benefits consulting firm found only 14% of firms offer Group Critical Illness insurance but 44% are considering adding the benefit. (corporate survey results, online survey by Hewitt Associates 2007)
| What's So Critical About Group Critical Illness Insurance? | |
| 1. | Most agents and brokers are poorly versed in the important differences of Group Critical Illness insurance policies. We are specialists in this field and are prepared to show you an industry comparison of how each company stacks up against one another before making our recommendation. This is one employee benefit that you don't want to purchase solely on price. |
| 2. | Choose a stand alone Group Critical Illness policy. This allows the employer to shop the market for better terms and rates on their other Group benefits without losing the grandfathering of the pre-existing conditions in the Group Critical Illness plan. A bundled plan could mean that some employees would be denied a claim under a new carrier that would have otherwise been paid under the original plan. |
| 3. | There are two important considerations when purchasing Group Critical Illness insurance. |
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a. One is the strength of the definitions’ wordings, and the other b. is the pre-existing conditions clause. These determine if and when you will be paid. Reinsurers tell us that 80% of all denied claims are due to pre-existing conditions. Twenty percent of denied claims are due to the illness or condition’s failure to satisfy the definition. You Have Two Choices 1. Find a plan with NO pre-existing conditions clause, and 2. Find a plan with the absolute best policy definitions. For companies over 300 lives, today’s best Group Critical Illness plan is VitalCheque© which is underwritten by the ACE-INA Life Insurance Company. This stand alone plan has no pre-existing conditions clause over 300 lives and has the absolute best industry definitions. The proof lies in our prepared industry comparison of various group insurance plans. If you are a large firm then be sure to check out their plan highlights and make VitalCheque© the benchmark for all other insurance plans to measure up to. To get your VitalCheque© quotation download and complete the Plan Design and Employee Census Data Sheet (save a copy for your records) and email the file to the address shown below. For companies under 300 lives, today’s best Group Critical Illness plan is SmartChoice C.I. Benefits which is also underwritten by ACE-INA Life Insurance Company. This is also a stand alone plan without any pre-existing condition clause. This plan has no health questions. Coverage is guaranteed to go into effect on the first of the month following the date all applications are received. SmartChoice C.I. covers 21 conditions with 5 of them representing 97% of all Group Critical Illness claims paid to date. These 5 conditions along with the majority of the remaining 10 have exactly the same definitions as VitalCheque©. If you are a firm with 5 to 299 employees then SmartChoice C.I. may be the best plan in the industry for you. Click here for highlights. Insurance Limits with SmartChoice C.I. 5 – 9 employees $15,000 or $25,000 10 – 50 employees $15,000, $25,000 or $50,000 50+ employees $15,000, $25,000, $50,000, $75,000 or $100,000 For Firms with 5 to 299 lives the monthly premium per thousand dollars of coverage is $1.024. Example: A firm of 10 lives electing $25,000 of Group Critical Illness coverage would cost $256.00 per month plus the provincial sales tax. (10 e/e’s X 25 X $1.024 = $256.00 per month) Ready to enroll in SmartChoice C.I.? If you have any questions or would like to see a representative, contact us at the information shown below. |
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Gary White Insurance
Tel: (800) 433-5307 Bus. Cell: (416) 768-4279
Email: info@garywhiteinsurance.com
© 2009 Gary White Insurance