The last thing Canadians need these days is more to worry about. Canada's life and health insurers know that millions of Canadians count on us to be there for them in times of crisis. That's why we've been working so tirelessly with employers and individual Canadians to protect their access to health benefits and income supports during this pandemic.We are facing some tough issues. We have made some good progress tackling them.Like most Canadians, we experienced the COVID-19 crisis as a sudden shock that completely changed our work. At the same time as our call centres were overwhelmed with enquiries about a myriad of issues, over 90 per cent of the 156,000 people who administer health and drug benefit plans across Canada suddenly had to leave their offices and find a way to do their jobs at home, just like so many other Canadian families.Our people made it work. They know that what they do is vitally important to millions of Canadians. Without a doubt, we had our hands full helping employers and ensuring people's claims and questions were serviced without interruption. But then, insurers also had to tackle some new issues that immediately presented themselves.
- Many thousands of Canadians were suddenly told to come home from overseas. As it happens, our industry had a unique contribution to make, since most “snowbirds” and other travelers routinely take out travel insurance. So we teamed up with the Government of Canada to get in touch with them, and helped tens of thousands of Canadians return home safely and in a timely manner.
- The U.S. -Canadian border was quickly closed to tourists, but kept open for trade. But what about the truckers? Our industry stepped up to make sure Canadian truckers who bring needed food and other supplies across the border continued to have health coverage – even for COVID-19 related situations - while working across the border.
- Thousands of Canadians needed income while recovering from COVID-19. Our industry stepped up to help. Insurers responded to waive the usual waiting period for short-term disability benefits so that COVID-19 patients could access needed income supports from day one. And we made it as easy as possible for patients to access their benefits – waiving requirements for doctor's notes and lab tests in favour of self-declarations.
- Public health measures created new challenges for patients to access health services as they usually would. Insurers have been working with health care providers to adapt to virtual care so insurers can continue to provide emergency dental and paramedical coverage to those that need urgent care. And we've taken steps so that Canadians can continue to access prescriptions for rare disease treatments or biologic drugs without interruption, with insurerstemporarily extending renewals without the need for new physician information or lab tests.
- And as this health crisis has quickly developed into an economic crisis, we've worked closely with employers to provide financial supports to help them continue to provide health and dental benefits, often even to laid off employees. Canada's life and health insurers have proactively provided premium refunds and other forms of premium deferrals to reduce costs for employers to help them and their employees get through this unprecedented economic crisis.