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Posted on 17 Oct 2008

You may have heard that the number of insurers in the Canadian marketplace has declined over the years. This is true ... sort of. The traditional life insurance companies have consolidated their group operations into just a few key players. But there are some innovative Group Health Insurance solutions being offered now. And even the traditional group plans have had to improve their offerings to stay competitive.

So what choices are there for a business to provide a group health benefit plan?

1. Traditional Group Insurance Canada Everyone is familiar with traditional workplace health benefits. They provide basic life insurance coverage, a disability insurance safety net and Accidental Death and Dismemberment Coverage. They also offer Prescription Drug and Dental coverage (not always both), and extended health benefits like chiropractic, massage, psychology, and the like. There are a lot of different ways to build a benefit plan now and a good broker will help you to find the right coverage for the budget of your business.

2. Administrative Services Only (ASO) An Administrative Services Only plan can offer all of the same benefits that a Traditional Group Plan. So what's the difference? The difference between ASO and a traditional group plan is that the ASO is neededly self insuring. This eliminates a lot of the "mark-up" in the group plan but also increases the risk of high claims to the business. This risk can be reduced through the use of stop loss insurance. All in all an ASO plan can save a business a lot of money while reducing overall costs.

3. Health Spending Accounts A Health Spending Account is neededly a savings account set apart for the purpose of medical spending. Small business owners and incorporated professionals find that this is a dynamic way to pay for health expenses they already have and to save for future costs. A HSA is recognized by the Canada Revenue Agency and allows the individual to pay for their annual healthcare costs in pre-tax dollars. Money put into the HSA are recognized as a full business deduction. This save significant tax dollars. Of course there are limits to how much can be put into a Health Spending Account. they're reasonable limits.

So you can see that there are choices to implement a health insurance plan for your business and employees. You might be surprised that you don't have to break the bank!

Rob B is a Canadian Insurance broker who is sharing general information on insurance in the hopes that it helps more people get the insurance they need. Rob is an independent broker from the Niagara Region in Ontario, Canada. He writes about insurance for Canadians at http://www.canada-insurance-source.com

Visit Group Insurance Canada to learn more about Canadian Group Plans, ASO plans, and Health Spending Accounts.

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