Dear Subscriber,
Happy September. I want to thank the nearly 50% of you that have renewed your memberships in advance of the actual renewal date. I know most of you are doing so to ensure that you get member pricing for the October events when they launch next week, but I also think the value of the Slack channel and the member networking provides even better value than the in-person events (which I still love). Either way, staying involved means you get more value out of your membership than ever before.
We've had some members encountering renewal problems. When you join as a member you are prompted to complete a GlueUp profile, where you can add contact info and photo etc. It appears some have not done so or may have skipped this step and it's caused renewal links to not work properly. Details on how to use it are below:
How to use Glue Up mobile app? - Download the My Glue App on App Store or Google Play.
- If you are a new user, please register to My Glue. Otherwise, please log in to your existing account.
- Start exploring Glue Up app!
Why Register an account on Glue Up? - Find all activities on a single platform.
- Access your registrations to events
- Get access to your member benefits 24/7 and manage your membership information independently
If you still have problems, please do not hesitate to give me a call or drop an e-mail and we'll ensure you get the membership renewed and keep you active.
Dave |
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OUR EVENTS
..and now for something a little bit different!
This will be a regular event sharing and discussing on all things group benefits focussed.A huge thanks to Jason Watt (he/him) CD CLU of BCC for making this possible. Jason not only came up with the idea, the name, and the format, but he’s also handled all the back end tech work required to bring this to fruition. His dedication to advisor education is like no one else’s. Jason, please keep making us all better at what we do.
Our first podcast is titled Designing Small Group Products, but it’s much more than that. Dive in as Jordan Bulhoes, GBA of BBD joins David "Dave" Patriarche and Jason for a discussion around the first renewal of the CGIB Catastrophic Health Insurance Plan. It’s not just the first fully transparent (you see the actual pooled premium and claims) and fully pooled (all clients are in the same pool with no subgroups) health plan in decades, it’s also got a first year renewal of only 2%. YES 2%!!!!
If you’re looking for innovative plan design with great cost controls, listen in to learn more: https://lnkd.in/gPRJh6Aa
Watch our newsletters and website for upcoming episodes and details. ____________________________________________________________ CGIB COFFEE CHATS
Coffee chats are like a virtual breakfast. Log in, ask questions, share problems, seek solutions and talk about what's on your mind. Best done from a computer, with a camera and a microphone. No CE credits, but also no cost, just show up.
Tuesday September 20th @ 2pm (EST) Thursday October 13th @ 2pm (EST) Tuesday November 1st @2pm (EST) Tuesday November 15th @2pm (EST) ____________________________________________________________ BREAKFAST MEETINGS CGIB no longer runs the breakfast meetings, but supports the initiative of the volunteers that do.
Please find the details for your closest location below. Ajax, Cambridge, Edmonton, London, Markham, Oakville, St Catherines, Toronto, Vancouver Island, Windsor or the Virtual National Meeting
____________________________________________________________ Upcoming CGIB Events:
Hold the date for these upcoming events, and watch for details HERE.
Toronto Seminar - Wednesday October 5th Paramount Event Venue - Vaughan
Know Your (Group) Client - Robert Crowder Selling on Value, not just Price - Dave Patriarche Changes in the Dental space in Ontario - Dr. David Stevenson Disability Cases one Wrong - David Share
Calgary Seminar - Tuesday October 18th Best Western Calgary Plaza Hotel
Selling on Value, not just Price - Dave Patriarche Employment Law update - Shane King Concerning trends in benefits - Dave Patriarche Ethics in Group Benefits - Jason Watt
Vancouver Seminar - Thursday October 20th Sandman Signature Vancouver Airport
Selling on Value, not just Price - Dave Patriarche Employment Law update - Cameron Wardell Concerning trends in benefits - Dave Patriarche Building a practice, being approached, and then merging. Is there life after? - Derrek Quon |
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GET ON SLACK
The CGIB SLACK channel is a great place to pose questions, share info and learn a ton from your fellow members. The info and discussions that are posted there are unlike anywhere in the industry. Sadly, about 15% of CGIB members are still missing out on all the info being shared. Others have not taken a look at all the documents, videos and information available in MEMBERS ONLY to make their life easier.
NOTE TO ALL SLACK USERS: We now have 40+ channels in Slack to handle different topics. Please take a moment to add these channels to your menu. To do so, just click on the + next to Channels on the top left. Browse the channels and then click JOIN to add each of them. By doing so you won’t be missing some really great info. |
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SUGGESTED READING
We think the information contained below is of great value and encourage you to read the articles and check out the events that interest you. In most cases, these articles and events are not run by CGIB, so please contact the organizers for more information. We take no responsibility for the websites, events, organizations or their content. |
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Suggested Reading:
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HEALTH COSTS EXPECTED TO RISE U.S. employers expect health benefit cost per employee to rise 5.6 per cent on average in 2023, says Mercer’s ‘National Survey of Employer-Sponsored Health Plans 2022.’ While significantly higher than the increase of 4.4 per cent projected for 2022, the 2023 increase lags overall inflation, which is currently running at about nine per cent. Sunit Patel, Mercer’s chief actuary for health and benefits, says, “because health plans typically have multi-year contracts with healthcare providers, we haven’t felt the full effect of price inflation in health plan cost increases yet. Rather it will be phased in over the next few years as contracts come up for renewal and providers negotiate higher reimbursement levels. Employers have a small window to get out in front of sharper increases coming in 2024 from the cumulative effect of current inflationary pressures.” The projected increase of 5.6 per cent reflects changes that employers plan to make to hold down cost. If they made no changes, respondents indicated that the cost for their largest medical plan would rise by an average of seven per cent.
JAPAN STANDS OUT WITH HEALTHCARE The standout country when it comes to exemplary healthcare services is Japan, says Radar Healthcare. Japan achieved a score of 78.5 out of 100, which was helped by a top ranking of 9.5 out of 10 when it comes to the quality of healthcare provided to residents. Despite a large population of 125.6 million people, it managed to maintain a fairly low yearly compulsory healthcare cost per person, with an average total of £3,725, a ranking of six out of 10. In second place came Germany with a score of 73.5. Hailed as the second-most progressive country in the world, its ranking was obtained thanks to a human development score of nine, which refers to how many people live long and healthy lives, have a decent standard of living, and achieve a wealth of knowledge. Australia, scoring a commendable 71.5 was third. Canada’s was only ranked sixth among countries spending the most on healthcare and 12th in number of hospitals per population. It was not ranked among the top 15 countries globally with the best quality of care (South Korea), most affordable healthcare (Luxembourg), and least affordable healthcare (Greece).
IT TAKES A VILLAGE Supporting employee mental health and well-being is clearly the right thing to do, but it’s also a business imperative, says a Telus Health ‘Benefits Hub.’ ‘It Takes A Village To Improve Mental Health: How Employers Can Contribute To Employee Well-Being’ says managing people risk should be a top business priority for any organization today. The best approach is a well-being strategy structured around three elements ‒ organizational infrastructure, organizational awareness, and targeted programming.
HEALTHCARE COSTS INCREASING Average costs for U.S. employers that pay for their employees’ healthcare will increase 6.5 per cent to more than $13,800 per employee in 2023, says Aon. This projection is more than double the three per cent increase to healthcare budgets which employers experienced from 2021 to 2022; but is significantly below the 9.1 inflation figure reported through the Consumer Price Index. Medical claims were suppressed for most employers during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, during which time much care was postponed or skipped during quarantines. Employers have seen the medical claims experience return to more typical levels of growth and anticipate inflationary cost pressures in the coming year. While healthcare budgets will come in nearly three times lower than the Consumer Price Index this calendar year, employer health costs are expected to increase 6.5 percent in 2023 due to economic inflation pressures.
ALBERTA SURGERY NUMBERS RISING Cancer surgeries in Alberta are now at nearly 115 per cent of pre-pandemic volumes, with an increased number completed within clinically recommended time, says Alberta ‘News.’ About 70 per cent of cancer patients received their surgeries within the clinically recommended time in the 2021-22 fiscal year, compared with about 60 per cent in 2018-19. Cancer surgery numbers went up to about 22,500 from 20,000, a 12.5 per cent increase over pre-COVID-19 levels. As part of the province’s surgical initiative, Alberta Health and Alberta Health Services (AHS) have been increasing surgical capacity in hospitals and the number of surgeries at chartered surgical facilities. Main operating room surgical suite hours have been increased at hospitals, which is steadily reducing the surgical wait-list. AHS is performing an additional 30,000 ophthalmology procedures and 6,000 orthopedic procedures this fiscal year through new contracts with chartered surgical facilities. This is in addition to providing quicker access to urology, orthopedic, and ophthalmology surgeries by implementing a central access and intake model called the Alberta facilitated access to specialized treatment program. The surgical wait-list currently sits at 6.7 per cent above pre-pandemic levels. The total surgical wait-list for adults is about 72,600, compared with about 68,000 in February 2020, before the pandemic.
CANCER DRIVES HEALTHCARE COSTS Cancer has overtaken musculoskeletal conditions as the top driver of large U.S. companies’ healthcare costs, says the Business Group on Health’s ‘2023 Large Employers’ Health Care Strategy and Plan Design Survey.’ While the top three conditions fueling healthcare costs remained the same from last year (they include cardiovascular disease, in addition to cancer and musculoskeletal conditions), 13 per cent of employers said they have seen more late-stage cancers and another 44 per cent anticipate seeing such an increase in the future, likely due to pandemic-related delays in care. The research findings more broadly showed that as employers continued to have concerns about such issues as health equity and the affordability of healthcare, they will continue to invest strategically in their health and well-being offerings. After experiencing no increase in actual healthcare cost from 2019 to 2020, employers experienced a significant return to rising costs, with a median 2021 cost increase of 8.2 per cent. Despite rising costs, employers expect to cover 82 per cent of the cost of employee coverage in 2022, up from 80 per cent the year before (employer support for family coverage remains at 80 per cent of premium). Large employers overwhelmingly (99 per cent) said they were concerned about prescription drug trend. In 2021, prescription drugs accounted for a median of 21 per cent of employers’ healthcare costs, with more than half of pharmacy spend going to specialty medications. Employers have opportunities to bring down costs through pharmacy program tactics, including biosimilar coverage, site of care, and case management, among others. |
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You usually succeed You rarely feel like an imposter You already know what you need to know You’re confident it’s going to work
My Take on Seths Post
Put another way...You gotta get out of your comfort zone, search out and try new plan designs, providers and formats, if you want to improve and do better for your clients.
I fail at things all the time (remember my Trillium failure?). I feel like an imposter most days (just waiting for you to realize I'm a sailor that is still learning benefits). I definitely do not know enough, and not sure if what I'm doing is going to continue to work. Heck, for over 25 years I've been told I can't earn a living selling benefits to small business, so...maybe?.
Let's all try harder. Doing so helped me to defeat G-19, provided equality to women across Canada on pregnancy leave, and get most insurers aligned on increasing declined employees for life and LTD coverage when NEM's are increased. If you want to learn more about those, call me or check out: www.cgib.ca > Projects. |
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EDUCATIONAL EVENTS
ONLINE CE CREDITS
Looking for benefits dedicated online CE courses? Want to provide your admin and support staff with basic knowledge? Want to dig into something more detailed for your benefits/insurance business? Business Career College (BCC) has an extensive catalogue of online CE courses with a number of group benefits specific courses covering topics ranging from contractual concerns, plan designs, and underwriting requirements, to product specifics and integration with government benefits. Courses consist of narrated videos with short, online quizzes. The full catalogue includes over 60 courses, podcasts, and videos covering topics from the world of insurance, investments, financial planning, taxation, and ethics with a focus on technical content and real-world application. Courses are accredited for the maximum categories of credits and can include provincial Life and A&S credits, FP Canada, Advocis, and more! Use code CGIB on registration for your first three months free! |
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GLOBAL BENEFITS CERTIFICATE OFFERED The 2022 International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans’ ‘Certificate in Global Benefits Management’ provides the comprehensive knowledge needed to administer and manage a global benefits program. Topics include developing a global benefits strategy, multinational pooling and offshore retirement plans, and international healthcare systems and wellness trends. It takes place September 19 to 23 in Washington, DC. Information is at _________________________________________________________ DIGITAL HEALTHCARE EXAMINED ‘Where Life Insurance & Digital Healthcare Meet’ and ‘Combat Turbulent Inflation’ will be among the topics discussed at ‘The Future of Insurance Canada 2022.’ Speakers include Valérie Lavoie, president and chief operating officer at Desjardins General Insurance Group; Megan Douglas, senior vice-president and chief brand and commercial officer for Saskatchewan Blue Cross; and Zahid Salman, CEO of Green Shield Canada. The Reuters event takes place September 13 and 14 in Toronto, ON. Information is at https://events.reutersevents.com/insurance/future-insurance-canada ___________________________________________________________ Group Benefits in a Post-Pandemic World
Register now!Our Group Benefits Advisor Roadshow returns to a city near you this fall. Take advantage of this opportunity to: - Learn about the forces shaping our industry;
- Network with your peers; and
- Earn CE credits.
Agenda
A New Era of Drug Inflation? More Risks . . . More Opportunities A “perfect storm” of drug trends is unfolding, and every major overall drug trend variable is accelerating. This session will focus on practical and actionable insights, illustrate several “low hanging fruit” opportunities, and support our advisor partners in assisting plan sponsors to navigate drug risk volatility. Speaker: Martin Chung, Assistant Vice President, Strategic Health Management, Equitable Life
What is Normal? Disability Management in a Post-Pandemic World* The last two years have brought profound changes in the workplace. Those changes have had a significant impact on the nature of disability and how it is managed. This presentation will look at the new age of disability management. What's the same? What's different? And how can advisors help their clients navigate this new "normal"? Speaker: Maureen Long, Group Claims, Disability and Administration Vice-President, Equitable Life Tools for Building an Effective Employee Mental Health Program The pandemic had a profound impact on Canadians’ mental health, and employers are looking for ways to support their employees. This presentation will look at some of the tools and resources employers can include in their workplace mental health program. The presentation will focus on Online Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (iCBT) – what it is, how it works, the clinical evidence behind it, and how it can help employees struggling with anxiety, depression and other mental health issues. Speaker: Homewood Health
* The Vancouver Roadshow at the Delta Burnaby will feature a different presentation and speaker, as this topic was presented during our June Forum. See registration page for session details. Register
Click on a city below to register. Delta Hotels Burnaby Conference Centre Delta Hotels Edmonton Centre Suites Delta Hotels Calgary Downtown Delta Hotels Winnipeg Delta Hotels Bessborough
Infinity Convention Centre Delta Hotels London Armouries DoubleTree By Hilton Kitchener The Thornhill Golf Club Oakville Conference Centre
The sessions start at 8:30 am and run until 11:30 am. Breakfast is served beginning at 7:45 am. ___________________________________________________________ ClaimSecure New ASO SME Product ( SecurePak) Education session
Join us on September 28, 2022 @ 2 PM EST for a brand new webinar entitled ClaimSecure and Canada Life New ASO Product "SecurePak" for Groups 25-200 Certs
https://claimsecure.webex.com/claimsecure/onstage/g.php?MTID=e4dbff3244687a6adb88d244f7e7aee9b __________________________________________________________ The 2022 Healthy Outcomes Conference is an in-person event in Toronto on Oct. 17-18 intended for employers to exchange ideas, best practices and tools for achieving improved employee health outcomes and enhanced organizational performance.
The event will include several panels featuring leading employers and industry thought leaders discussing the trends and topics that matter most today. The winners of the 2022 Workplace Benefits Awards will also be announced throughout the day. We hope you will join us.
KEYNOTE SESSION:
Linda Duxbury - TORN BETWEEN WANT AND REALITY: HYBRID WORK AND WORK-LIFE BALANCE
More than two years after many employees started working from their homes, both employers and employees are talking about how they want to work post-pandemic. However, few are factoring work-life boundary preferences into the discussion. Research in this area has shown employees use two different approaches — segmentation and integration — when attempting to balance work and family. This session will use data from the 2020-23 Employee Wellbeing in Times of COVID-19 study to review the relationship between boundary management preferences, work-life balance and employee well-being, outlining the implications for employers and employees as they seek a balance between what they want and what’s actually best for them.
___________________________________________________________ Save the date for this 10th Anniversary Edition of the World-famous Canada Sales Congress
This years’ CSC will be an in-person event on Wednesday, October 26, 2022, at the Toronto Congress Centre.For this special 10th anniversary edition of the CSC, we will feature some of the top speakers from previous Canada Sales Congress events, along with inspiring first-time speakers!
This “best of the past and best of the future” approach will be showcased under the theme All-Stars and Rising Stars.Get the ideas that made these top advisors stars so you can be one too.
Discover how to “Aim for the moon so if you miss you still end up among the stars”!
Mark October 26 in your calendar: ___________________________________________________________
ClaimSecure is pleased to announce our 2022 eLearning series. Below is the schedule with the dates and times for the webinars.
We will be sending the registration links two weeks prior to each webinar.
We hope you will enjoy our 2022 eLearning series and we will look forward to your feedback. |
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Need help? Have questions? Looking for something?
Reach out to CGIB - Dave Patriarche - dave@cgib.ca - 905-886-9203 |
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