Extended Health Care Review
DATE: June 27, 2011
TO: D/UHR Representatives
FROM: Daisie Gregory, Chair, HS&IC on behalf of the HS&IC
RE: Independent Review of Extended Health Plans by
Coughlin Employee Benefits Specialists
The Health Services and Insurance Committee contracted the services of Coughlin Employee Benefits Specialists to conduct a review of the plan design for the Extended Health Plans. The report was presented by Joe Zadzora and Jill Moulton at the April committee meeting and during the June committee meeting the committee reviewed the recommendations presented by the Coughlin representatives.
We can report at this time that the Independent Consultants rated the RTO/ERO plan as equal to or superior when looking at the components of the coverage to the other plans in most areas. Furthermore, when the reviewer assessed the overall coverage offered by all the assessed plans, the RTO/ERO plan was found to be superior to plans offered to the elementary and secondary employees and support staff, including our competitor, RTIP.
The reviewer noted that the RTO/ERO plan design evolved over the years with input from various sources, which included the RTO/ERO membership. The RTO/ERO plan is more grounded to its membership’s needs and feedback. This provides a distinct advantage and is an important value-added component compared to most of the other comparators used by the reviewer. The structure of the comparative plans tends to be more top down and slower to react to market pressures. There are very few retiree plans on the market other than that of our main competitor, RTIP; therefore the reviewer considered only the highest level guaranteed acceptance, (no need for medical underwriting, if applied for in the required timeline) plan designs for Ontario residents. Most of the compatible plans are offered on an individual basis, versus the group basis under which the RTO/ERO plan is established. To be able to assess each plan against a level playing field, the reviewer considered all main benefit lines ( semi-private, extended health care, out –of province/Canada travel and dental care), with the premium payment requirements for a couple, each aged 71, which is the average age of the RTO/ERO membership.
While the reviewer felt that the members are getting good value for their benefits dollar, a few recommendations were offered by the reviewer and the HS&IC will be looking at each of the 20 recommendations in detail in the near future.
We also requested that the Coughlin team compare the RTO/ERO plan to the benefits available through the Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology (CAAT) retiree programmes, of which there are 3 levels. The core advantage to the RTO/ERO over the CAAT is the travel insurance coverage offered.
The HS&IC are extremely pleased with the findings of the reviewer. We continue to lead the way for retiree plans.