Volume 20 Number 2 March 2014
Chambers Plan Renewal
April 1st, 2014
April 1st marks the annual renewal of your Chambers Plan coverage. At renewal, premiums are generally adjusted for the coming year to reflect changes in employees’ ages, adjustments to provincial Dental Fee Guides, costs associated with medical trends and any revisions to government health plans. This edition of Plan News highlights these changes for you.
In this package you will also find your firm’s Employee Benefit and Premium Summary as at April 1st, 2014. The Summary is specific to your organization and reflects your rates as at April 1st, based on your current coverage. Renewal is a good time to review your benefits to ensure the options you initially selected still meet your coverage and budget needs.
Eligibility
Your Chambers Plan group benefit program is available to you through your membership in your local Chamber of Commerce or Board of Trade. Your business (or one of its principals) must maintain a membership with a participating Chamber or Board in order for your firm to remain eligible for Chambers Plan coverage.
One Year Older
Your April 1st base rates are recalculated based on the current demographics of your group of employees. If you had employees join or leave the Plan during the past year, their addition or deletion can affect the average age of your group, which in turn can affect the rates charged to all employees for the coming year.
At April 1st we also adjust the ages for all insureds enrolled in the Plan – with each Plan participant becoming one year older. Since the cost of many of these benefits increases as insured employees age (with Life, Disability and Critical Illness benefits being the most common examples), even though there are no other changes, rates will be adjusted to reflect the current ages of all Plan participants.
A Pooled / Partially Pooled Approach to
Health and Dental Benefits
With most programs, health rates are impacted by Plan participants’ overall utilization of services, while also factoring in health care inflation (things such as drug costs, an aging population, and the development of new treatment options). Dental claims are generally paid based on “current year” Fee Guide rates as set by your provincial dental association. These annual fee guide increases, along with utilization by Plan participants, impact the renewal rates charged for Dental benefits.
Most carriers assess renewal rates for Health and Dental benefits based solely on a firm’s individual experience. Some may utilize a buffer of some sort (weighting the experience, applying a credibility factor), but generally, calculations take a firm’s experience and factor in incurred but not reported claim reserve (IBNR) requirements, trend, inflation and expenses. The group’s experience, along with these factors, are all considered when
determining rates at renewal.
Unlike most carriers, the Chambers Plan utilizes a pooled and partially pooled concept on our Health and Dental benefits to establish renewal rates. Small fluctuations in a firm’s claims do not necessarily factor into the rates. This provides firms a greater degree of latitude before their experience is factored into the rates and greater latitude allows firms to have more stability over the long term.
Chambers Plan Advantage
Unlike most programs, the Chambers Plan is run on a not-for-profit basis and premiums are set to cover the cost of the Plan’s benefits and administration with ALL surpluses going back into the Plan. This has allowed the Plan to absorb much of the cost increases this renewal. This year’s overall renewal average increase of 1.9% is the Plan’s lowest renewal in nine years. By choosing the Chambers Plan, we believe your firm has chosen the stable group program required for your firm’s
success. Thank you for choosing to be a member of your local Chamber of Commerce or Board of Trade, and for choosing the Chambers of Commerce Group Insurance Plan®.
To review your firm’s rates, please refer to the enclosed Employee Benefit and Premium Summary as at April 1st, 2014, which also details all the insured benefits for your group and the volume of coverage per benefit for each employee.
With all ages recalculated at April 1st, some Plan participants will have their current age affect their benefits. For example: • Life options under the Chambers Plan reduce to 25% or
50% of face value at age 65, and terminate at age 75. Individuals turning age 65 can convert, in whole or in part, the coverage they are losing under the Plan. Letters will be sent to individuals directly, notifying them of the opportunity to convert, and the time frame for doing so (31 days from April 1st, 2014).
• The travel coverage under any Health option with the Chambers Plan is based on the age of the insured as at April 1st, and the length of time the individual is away from their province of residence. Chambers Plan travel benefits provide coverage for the first:
- 180 days of a trip for certificate holders under age 65, - 90 days of a trip for certificate holders age 65 to 69, - 60 days of a trip for certificate holders age 70 to 74, and - 30 days of a trip for certificate holders age 75 to 80.
Should anyone in your firm require coverage for any trips longer than specified in their group coverage, the Chambers Plan has an arrangement with Ingle
International to offer top up coverage for an additional cost. Employees can call 1 855 591-2288 to speak with a service representative.
• Life / Accidental Death & Dismemberment (AD&D), Dependent Life, and Employee Assistance Program benefits, as well as access to Best Doctors® services, terminate on the Plan’s anniversary date following a Plan participant’s 75th birthday. Both Weekly Indemnity and Long Term Disability benefits terminate on the Plan participant’s 65th birthday.
• Health and Dental benefits continue until the earliest of April 1st following their 80th birthday or retirement.
Plan Participant Eligibility
For Plan participants to be eligible for ANY benefits,
individuals must be permanent, full-time employees working two-thirds or more of the company’s normal hours and not less than 20 hours weekly.
Are there employees off work due to a disability?
If you have employees who are totally disabled without Long Term Disability (LTD) benefits, they may be eligible for a waiver of the Life / AD&D and Dependent Life (if applicable) premiums. Though they may not hold disability coverage, if notification of the disability is not provided, the insurer may never know if someone is eligible for these waivers.
If your firm does not hold LTD benefits, and someone on your plan has been disabled for the past six months, please contact the Chambers Plan service line at 1 800 665-3365. Press 1 when prompted and speak to a Disability Customer Service Representative who can send you the applicable forms.
Keep our Records Current
In January, we sent you an Annual Firm Update form. If you have not already done so, please return the completed and signed form, even if there are no changes. By completing the Annual Firm Update, you help us ensure all your eligible employees are participating in the Plan and our records reflect the most current information. If you did not receive the Annual Firm Update, please contact the Service Centre immediately at 1 800 665-3365.
Retirement Plans?
The Chambers Plan is pleased to introduce a Health and Dental benefit program for retiring Chambers of Commerce Group Insurance Plan owners and principals. Retiring executives can now easily transition from their Chambers Plan group benefit coverage to an individual Health and Dental plan for themselves and their dependents.
To be eligible, individuals must have been employed with their company for the last five years prior to retirement as an owner, principal or executive; and must have been an insured employee of their company’s group plan with the Chambers Plan for two years prior to retirement.
There are no medical statements required and coverage is guaranteed, but individuals applying for coverage must be residents of Canada and have provincial health care coverage in their province of residence. Individuals must apply within 60 days following the date of retirement from the company. Individuals select one of three Health and
Dental plans, and can then choose to add one of two prescription drug options. Coverage is underwritten by Group Medical Services (GMS), who have been providing a complete range of Health and Travel insurance to individuals and groups for over 60 years.
Visit the Resources section of the Johnston Group website www.johnstongroup.ca under
Johnston Group Retiree Plans*for more
information about the program, rates and application.
Your local Chambers Plan advisor can answer any questions you may have.
* Johnston Group Retiree Plans are currently unavailable in New Brunswick or Quebec.
Chambers Plan
Gives You More
Every Chambers Plan program also includes Best Doctors services
and Business Assistance Service at NO ADDITIONAL COST.
Because nothing matters more than your health.
Best Doctors recognizes people with serious illnesses may lack the guidance and support essential to successfully access the best medical care. By connecting individuals and their treating physicians with world renowned specialists, Best Doctors provides answers that mean a correct diagnosis and treatment recommendations, fewer invasive procedures, and better outcomes. Insureds don’t have to leave home or incur any additional cost, and every step of the way a dedicated Member Advocate (Registered Nurses) is available for one-on-one support and guidance.
Best Doctors services are provided to every individual covered under the Chambers Plan and a detailed description of services can be found in the Life section of each Employee Booklet.
Business Assistance Service
(BAS)
The Chambers Plan Business Assistance Service gives owners the resources to help manage their business more efficiently by providing access to a team of specialists who can help deal with unexpected problems requiring an expert opinion. The benefit provides up to six hours of Legal, Accounting and Specialized Human Resource services combined, per calendar year. In addition, owners have access to Human Resource Coaching and confidential Employee Referral services. You can find a Business Assistance Service
Reference Guide at www.chambers.ca under Existing Clients / Employers / Forms & Resources detailing the services available and the toll-free number to call to access them.
HOW HEALTHY IS YOUR BUSINESS?
By conducting a regular business checkup, you can identify strengths and weaknesses. Download a Small Business Checkup guide to help you evaluate the health of your business.
Visit www.chambers.ca under Existing Clients / Employers / Forms & Resources
A group retirement savings plan helps businesses like yours be competitive and take care of your employees’ future financial needs. The Chambers Plan Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP), Futurestep®, provided by Manulife Financial, is specifically designed to be simple to administer and is available to companies with as few as two employees.
Offering best-of-class investment options, education and training and online services – all in an easy and manageable, cost-effective program, Futurestep is a perfect fit for any organization.
To learn more, refer to the Group Retirement Savings Plan brochure found on www.chambers.ca under
Existing Clients / Forms & Resources, or contact your local Chambers Plan advisor.
Make your
Chambers Plan
administration easy!
582 King Edward St., Winnipeg, MB R3H 0P1 TF: 1 800 665-3365 | TF FAX: 1 800 457-8410 In Winnipeg P: 204 774-6677 | F: 204 774-6698 | www.chambers.ca
If you have not signed up for my-benefits®, the Chambers Plan online administration tool, visit www.my-benefits.ca and simply click on ‘sign me up’ and follow the instructions to register. Easy to use and easy to access, my-benefits is the simple and convenient way to manage your Chambers Plan benefit program.
All administration forms can be found on
my-benefits or at www.chambers.ca. Please use the online forms (instead of any paper forms you may have on file), to ensure you are using the most current version. We have recently updated the Employee Change Request form and have created a new Employee Termination / Reinstatement Request to better guide you through the process. Using the most current form allows us to process your requests quickly and accurately.
New employees must enrol in the Plan within 120 days of the date full-time employment began. If employees do not enrol within this timeframe, they are considered “late entrants”, requiring medical evidence of insurability. To ensure your firm does not miss the enrolment period, we recommend submitting enrolment applications as employees are hired. There will be no need to ‘remember’ to enrol the employee at a later date and premiums will only be billed when the employee’s coverage begins.
If you have full-time employees not covered by their provincial coverage, they are not eligible for Health benefits under the Chambers Plan - but are eligible for all other benefits your firm may hold. Please ensure you enrol these individuals within the 120 day enrolment period to avoid making them a late entrant. When the individual is approved for their provincial coverage, they have 60 days to enrol for any Health benefits your firm may have.
Your
Chambers
Plan
Expert
Your advisor is a source of information and knowledge to help you review your coverage and identify ways to enhance it. If your needs or budget considerations have changed, your advisor can help you choose options to better suit your company. Your Marketing Agency contact information can be found in the top right corner of your Employee Benefit and Premium Summary.
You can also contact the Chambers Plan Service Centre where we are always ready to help.
