Employee Benefits

A traditional benefits plan is the most common type that business owners implement. Companies like Manulife, Sun Life and Great-West life sell these types of plans. Orr Insurance deals with these companies, as well as companies like Empire Life, Equitable Life, Benecaid, and many more. A typical plan design for an employee benefits plan would include drug coverage, other health coverage and dental coverage. These plans offer much more than just those things, like travel insurance coverage and life/disability coverage.

This is a different way of funding your benefits plan. Essentially, you self-insure the day-to-day expenses (like drugs, dental, and other small health expenses) and insure the big stuff (like life insurance and long-term disability). With a traditional style plan, if you use 40% of premium you don’t get that 60% back at the end of the year. With ASO, you do. Your essentially giving the company your own money to pay claims, and if there is money left over you’re able to do whatever you want with it. But what if an employee gets very sick, and requires thousands of dollars of drugs every year? You will self-fund that employees drug costs up to a certain point (for example $4,000/person/year), and then what we call a Stop Loss Insurance Plan will kick in. The employee will see no difference in coverage, but you will no longer self-fund their drug costs anymore, the insurance plan will. This ensures that you won’t have an open-ended liability if someone were to need a high cost drug.

Do you want to offer your employees flexibility in the coverage they choose? Orr Insurance is able to sell a plan called myFlex, offered through Equitable Life. With this plan, you as the employer will choose a path to offer your employees, which will have 3 options for them to choose from. If you have employees who believe they do not need a lot of coverage, this plan is great for them as they can choose the lesser option of the 3, and possibly have flex dollars left over to spend on anything medically necessary. Jim and Chris have many clients who have taken this flex plan, and have had nothing but great things to say about it. Renewals are more favourable as it is a pooled product (your claims experience means significantly less to your rates as your experience is pooled across Canada), and renewals are once every 2 years, instead of every year.

• Prescription drugs

• Travel Coverage

• Vision

• Massage Therapist, Chiropractor, Physiotherapist, Osteopath, Naturopath, Podiatrist, Acupuncturist, Dietitian, Psychologist, Psychotherapist, Clinical Counsellor, Speech Pathologist/Therapist, and more

• Orthotics

• Ambulance Services

• Homecare Nursing (Registered Nurse, PSW, Occupational Therapist)

• Prosthetic Appliances

• Accidental Death & Dismemberment

• Basic Services: fillings, cleanings, scalings, examinations, polishings, and select extractions

• Annual check-ups

• Oral Surgery

• Periodontics

• Endodontics (root canal)

• Major Dental (orthodontics, crowns, bridges, dentures)

• Employee and Family Assistance Program (EAP) – depending on which insurer you go with, an EAP is either included in the price or can be added for an additional premium. An EAP is designed to help employees not bring their personal issues into the workplace. The EAP will give them and their dependents access to counsellors by phone, as well as therapists.

• Best Doctor’s– Best Doctor’s is a second opinion service that is either included or can be added to a group plan. A second opinion service is designed to allow employees to reach out to medical professionals for a second opinion regarding a medical diagnosis.

• HR Services – most insurers will allow the addition of Human Resources services for your HR department to use. These services include consultations with HR experts and access to tools/forms online.

• Virtual Healthcare – most insurers will allow you to add virtual healthcare to your group plan. Virtual healthcare gives employees access to consultations with nurse practitioners and doctor’s by phone/video call and texting. Employees can get medical advice and fill prescriptions all through a mobile app.

The price of the plan will depend on two things: which plan design you choose and the demographics of your group of employees (age, male/female, occupation). The plan design is fully customizable by you, and can include certain benefits or exclude them. Feel free to contact us and we can send you a quote. We will have you fill out some employee data and discuss plan design with you, and then gather quotes from insurers to find the best deal possible.