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April 2024 eNews
In this issue:
- Competitive – and easy – benefits plans for your small business clients
- Simplifying benefits enrolment for your clients*
- NEW time-off tracking tool from HRdownloads*
- Focus on benefits fraud: Protecting your clients’ plans from abuse*
Competitive – and easy – benefits plans for your small business clients
Supporting your small business clients can be a challenge. It’s tough to find a competitively-priced benefits plan with the features they want. Small business owners may also need more of your time – especially if this is their first benefits plan.
That’s why we created Equitable EZBenefits™, a benefits solution designed with the needs of small businesses in mind. With a range of plan design options and valuable embedded services for plan sponsors and plan members, EZBenefits is available for groups with 2 to 25 employees. And to make things simpler for you, we’ve created an Advisor Concierge Service exclusively for EZBenefits. Whether you have a question about submitting a quote request for a new client or an issue with an in-force client, our Concierge Service is your go-to resource for EZBenefits support.Don’t have any EZBenefits clients yet?
To learn more about EZBenefits, watch our video to learn more or view our brochure.Simplifying benefits enrolment for your clients*
Navigating the benefits enrolment period can be overwhelming – for you, your clients and their employees. It’s difficult to ensure all plan members complete the necessary paperwork before the enrolment deadline.
That’s why we offer our secure Online Plan Member Enrolment tool at no extra cost to plan sponsors. The tool simplifies the onboarding process for your clients and their plan members by eliminating the need for paper enrolment forms.
It also makes enrolment faster and easier for your clients by:- Reducing errors and rework that can occur due to spelling mistakes or missing information on paper forms; and
- Sending automatic enrolment reminders to plan members, resulting in fewer late applicants.
- Enrol in their benefits plan in just minutes from their computer or mobile device;
- Easily enter all their enrolment information, including dependent details, banking information for direct deposit of claim payments and details for coordination of benefits; and
- Designate their beneficiary electronically.
Ready to share our Online Plan Enrolment Tool with your clients? Get them started with these helpful resources:
- Online Plan Member Enrolment Flyer for Plan Administrators
- Online Plan Member Enrolment Quick Reference Guide for Plan Administrators
- Quick Reference Guide for Plan Members
To learn more about how Online Plan Member Enrolment can simplify benefits enrolment for your clients, contact your Group Account Executive or myFlex Account Executive.
NEW time-off tracking tool from HRdownloads*
Through our partnership with HRdownloads®, EZBenefits clients now have complimentary access to Timetastic —a time-off tracking tool that can make it easier to manage employee vacation time, sick days and more.
Timetastic integrates seamlessly with HRdownloads and includes a mobile app to help manage time-off requests from any mobile device.
To see Timetastic in action, check out this demo.
EZBenefits also includes other helpful resources and tools from HRdownloads that can make daily human resources tasks easier, including:- A robust, award-winning HR management platform (HRIS);
- HR documents, templates, compliance resources and articles; and
- A live HR advice helpline.
Learn more about accessing HRdownloads.Focus on benefits fraud: protecting your clients’ plans from abuse*
According to the Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association (CLHIA), benefits fraud costs insurers and plan sponsors millions of dollars each year, which can lead to increased premium costs.
Resources for your clients
Both plan administrators and plan members play a role in preventing benefits abuse. So, we’ve compiled some resources you can share with your clients to help them understand what benefits fraud is and how to prevent it:- CLHIA’s free 15-minute Protect Your Benefits online course for plan administrators and their members
- CLHIA’s Fraud is Fraud program, including their FAQs on benefits fraud
- Our online guide to benefits abuse
- Tips for plan administrators and plan members to protect their plan
How we’re fighting benefits fraud
Our Investigative Claims Unit (ICU) works to detect and eliminate benefits fraud. We use a variety of investigative techniques, including CLHIA-led industry tools to detect and eliminate benefits fraud:- Joint Provider Fraud Investigation Program: A robust program that allows insurers to collaborate on fraud investigations that affect multiple insurers;
- Data Pooling Program: An initiative that pools data between insurers and uses advanced artificial intelligence to further identify and reduce benefits fraud; and
- Provider Alert Registry: A registry that allows insurers to view the results of other insurers’ anti-fraud investigations into specific practitioners.
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Equitable Life and Cloud DX
We have partnered with Cloud DX to provide remote monitoring for all our EquiLiving® Critical Illness Insurance eligible claimants.*
A Canadian first. Equitable Life’s Critical Illness eligible claimants, will now be supported beyond diagnosis and through treatment and recovery. Equitable Life is proud to announce that it has partnered with Canadian digital health innovator, Cloud DX, to provide a Virtual Monitoring Care service as part of its Critical Illness packages. We are pleased to offer this service on all new and existing EquiLiving coverages.
*Cloud DX is a non-contractual benefit and may be withdrawn or changed by Equitable Life® at any time. To be eligible for the Cloud DX offering, a claimant must be age 12 or older and have received payment on or after February 12, 2022 for a covered critical condition benefit under an individual critical illness insurance policy issued by Equitable Life. An early detection benefit payment does not qualify. Equitable Life pays for 6 months of Cloud DX subscription fees. If the claimant wishes to continue the Cloud DX service after 6 months, they will be responsible for the cost.
View our press release announcing Cloud DX and Equitable Life’s partnership, and watch our video featuring Donna Carbell, Senior Vice President, Individual Insurance. -
Equitable Life Coronavirus Update – March 13, 2020
As the coronavirus (COVID-19) continues to spread, it’s important that you, your clients and their plan members have the most up-to-date information. We are providing timely updates on any developments that impact your clients and their plan members or their benefits coverage.
Please share this information with your clients. You can direct them to EquitableHealth.ca, where we have posted a version of these updates.
Coronavirus travel coverage*
For groups with Travel Assist coverage
The Public Health Agency of Canada has issued several Travel Health Notices advising Canadians to avoid travel to countries and regions where there have been outbreaks of coronavirus (COVID-19).
A good resource to help your clients and their plan members understand how the spread of the coronavirus may impact their travel plans is the Public Health Agency of Canada’s Coronavirus Travel Advice site. The levels of risk by country and region are regularly updated.
If your clients’ plan members cannot avoid travelling, Public Health recommends they take steps to prevent illness and seek medical attention if they become sick.
Where to find the latest information
The list and level of travel advisories can change at any time. Please check the Government of Canada’s Travel Advisor and Advisory page for the most current information.
If your clients’ plan members have coronavirus symptoms while travelling, please advise them to contact Travel Assist at the numbers listed below for assistance.
Advise plan members to call before they travel
If a plan member is travelling anywhere outside of the province or country and their benefits plan includes Travel Assist, plan administrators should advise them to make sure they’re prepared for a medical emergency by following these steps.
- Check the Government of Canada’s Travel Advisor and Advisory page. Note that it is important to click on the country to check whether any specific regions of that country have travel advisories.
- If they have questions, they should call Travel Assist before they travel for assistance and benefit information.
- Pack their Equitable Life benefits card and provincial health card.
- In a medical emergency, call the Travel Assist 24-Hour Hotline:
- Toll-free Canada/USA: 1.800.321/9998
- Global call collect: 519.742.3287
- Allianz Global Assistance ID #9089
Allianz Global Assistance administers Equitable Life’s Travel Assist benefits. Allianz has an international network of medical facilities, transportation providers, medical correspondents and multilingual administrative agents who aid with medical, legal and most travel-related emergencies 24-hours a day, seven days a week.
Early prescription refills and drug shortages*
In response to concerns about COVID-19 TELUS Health, our pharmacy benefits manager, has announced it is maintaining its standard rules for refills of medication. Plan members can refill their medications when at least two-thirds of the last dispensed supply has been used.
If plan members need more than the maximum supply allowed on their plan, they must pay out-of-pocket for the excess amount. They can then submit a claim to ask for an exception request.
TELUS is taking this position to help maintain access to medication for all patients. They continue to monitor the situation. We will provide an update if it changes.
Drug shortages
TELUS Health monitors for drug shortages and updates their system for any unavailable drugs. This helps to ensure accurate claims payment. If a referenced lowest-cost generic drug is unavailable, claims for drugs in the class will be paid at the next lowest-cost generic alternative available.
*Indicates content that will be shared with your clients
- Equitable and Cloud DX
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RxFood nutrition app added to all group benefits plans
In this issue:
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RxFood nutrition app added to all group benefits plans*
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Coming soon: Coverage information at plan members’ fingertips on EquitableHealth.ca*
*Indicates content that will be shared with your clients.
RxFood nutrition app added to all group benefits plans
Equitable® has added the RxFood nutrition app to all group benefits plans at no extra cost—giving every plan member more opportunity to make healthy and informed food choices.
RxFood is Canada’s first clinically validated nutrition platform that’s used and trusted by leading health care institutions across the country, such as SickKids Hospital and Diabetes Canada, to help support better health outcomes through nutrition.
Using technology powered by artificial intelligence, RxFood turns everyday meals into personalized insights, practical tips and tailored recommendations that are easy for plan members to act on and build into their routines.
For more information, read our previous eNews article.
Promoting RxFood to plan members
This week, clients will receive a digital toolkit to help them encourage plan members to register for RxFood. Plan members must register to access this free benefit.
The toolkit includes an RxFood brochure, a poster, an email template plan administrators can use to help spread the word, and the video below.
Coming soon: Coverage information at plan members’ fingertips on EquitableHealth.ca
Starting this month, Equitable plan members will be able to find helpful information about their health coverage more quickly and easily. We’re putting the key details at their fingertips on the EquitableHealth.ca® home page.
Faster access to health coverage details
Our new coverage panel will provide plan members fast access to information about their paramedical coverage for themselves and their covered dependants – including coverage maximums, reimbursement details and more.
Plan members with Health Care Spending Accounts or Taxable Spending Accounts will also be able to check their balances from the home page.
Later this spring, we’ll add information about vision and dental benefits to the coverage panel, too.
Simpler way to find benefits resources
We’re also making it easier for plan members to access key resources. Benefits cards, booklets and other important sections of the site will now be linked directly from the home page.
The video below walks plan members through the new features:
More new features to come
The coverage panel and resources section are the latest enhancements to our new plan member web experience, which we launched last fall. We’ll continue introducing more self-serve features this year.
To learn more about our enhanced plan member home page, contact your Group Account Executive or visit Equitable.ca/effortless.
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August 2019 Advisor eNews
Coming soon:
Tech updates for plan members
Technology doesn’t stand still, and neither does your clients' businesses. That’s why we continually invest in technology to make things easier for your clients and their employees.
Faster claims processing on Equitable EZClaim® Mobile
Equitable Life now provides real-time processing of massage therapy, physiotherapy and chiropractor claims submitted via the EZClaim Mobile app.
That means plan members are able to find out the status of their claim almost instantaneously. And, for approved claims, they will receive payment even sooner - often in as little as 24 hours.
In order to allow for instantaneous processing and faster payment, plan members will be prompted to enter some additional information including the practitioner’s name, the date of the expense, and the type and amount of the expense, when submitting their claims for these services.
Equitable Life plan members can submit all types of health and dental claims via EZClaim Mobile, including co-ordination of benefits and Health Care Spending Account claims. Currently, 43% of all claims are submitted through the user-friendly app.
AS part of our ongoing efforts to improve the mobile claims experience for plan members, we've also added biometric login functionality to allow plan members to sign in to the app using their face or fingerprint. And we've redesigned our landing page on the mobile app to make it easier for plan members to navigate the various features of the app.
We will be announcing this enhancement to plan members on EquitableHealth.ca
Introducing InpatProtect:
Health coverage for employees who are new to Canada
For a new employee starting to work in Canada, looking after basic health needs can be difficult.
There’s a waiting period for provincial health coverage, and group benefits plans don’t cover the physician, hospital or emergency services that they or their eligible dependents may need during their initial months in the country. They could end up incurring significant unexpected health expenses.
That’s why Equitable Life has launched InpatProtectTM. InpatProtect provides temporary coverage to look after the basic health needs of employees and their eligible dependents during their transition to Canada. Your clients can recruit from outside the country knowing that their employees will have some protection in the event of a medical need, including an emergency.
For up to 90 days, InpatProtect will cover employees and their eligible dependents for basic services that would normally be reimbursed under provincial health plans, such as:
- Physician services
- Prescriptions for medications
- Diagnosis and treatment for illness or injury
- Hospital services
- In-patient services
- Drugs prescribed and delivered as an inpatient in-hospital
- Out-patient services
- Emergency services
- Ambulance services
- Emergency dental services
Contact your Group Marketing Manager or myFlex Sales Manager for more information about this new product from Equitable Life.
De-listed service providers
As part of our ongoing initiative to have Group Benefits plans only reimburse eligible claims, we conduct reviews of the billing and administrative practices of service providers, including clinics, facilities and medical suppliers.
As a result of these reviews we may de-list certain providers. We will no longer accept, or process claims for services and/or supplies obtained from those providers. The plan member can still choose to obtain services or supplies from these providers, but Equitable Life will not provide reimbursement for the claims.
Review Equitable Life’s de-listed service providers
The delisted service provider list is also posted on EquitableHealth.ca for plan members to review to determine if their claim(s) are eligible for reimbursement under their Group Benefits plan.
For more information about protecting group benefits plans from abuse, check out our articles.
1 Based on Equitable Life health and dental claims submitted between January 2019 – March 2019
Google Home and Google Assistant are registered trademarks of Google LLC.
® denotes a trademark of The Equitable Life Insurance Company of Canada unless otherwise indicated. - Physician services
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Individual Insurance product enhancements
Equitable Life has exciting product enhancements that will help you offer more options to clients.
- Full Product Launch Video (approx. 20 minutes).
Watch our Virtual Product Launch NOW. Grab a coffee and get ready for this exciting news! Hear from our leaders and learn about our exciting product enhancements.
- Introduction video (View on Vimeo) / Product launch page
Highlights of the product changes effective February 12, 2022, include:NEW! 10 pay premium option with Equimax Estate Builder®
- The new EquiLiving® 20 pay rider options will be available on Equimax® plans
- 20 pay options with coverage to age 75 or coverage for life
NEW! EquiLiving plans and riders enhanced with:
- Support from Cloud DX to help monitor a client’s well-being from treatment to recovery.
- Added Acquired Brain Injury as a covered critical condition
- 30-day survival period removed for all non-cardiovascular covered conditions
- No age restriction to claim for Loss of Independent Existence (LOIE)
- EquiLiving Benefit now pays the higher of the EquiLiving Benefit or the Return of Premium Rider Benefit (not including Return of Premium on Death)
- And so much more …
New Illustration software available on February 11, 2022
The updated illustration software will be available for download after 9 a.m. ET on Friday, February 11, 2022, and will include all the Equimax and EquiLiving enhancements.
See the Equitable Sales Illustrations Update for information on how to download the software or check for updates.
Please review updates to the commission schedule A for these new enhancements.
Learn more- Transition rules are available
- Watch our virtual launch event video now! (Approx. 20 minutes),
- Watch our product launch intro video here. Watch on Vimeo
- Visit our launch event page with product change details and more
- Marketing Materials
Please contact your Regional Sales Manager for more information. - [pdf] Excelerator deposit option Q&A
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New year tune-up for Equimax participating whole life
It’s a new year and time for an Equimax® tune up! We have made some exciting changes for new sales of Equimax Estate Builder® and Equimax Wealth Accumulator® effective February 11, 2023.
These exciting enhancements make Equimax even more robust, simpler and cost effective, to ensure it continues to be the preferred participating whole life solution for clients and advisors alike.
Watch our informative video to learn more.
Check out our Equimax splash page for complete details on all the enhancements, our transition rules, and much more.
What’s new?- All new children’s policies will now be issued as non-smoker for life – we will no longer request a non-smoker declaration for new children's policies.
- We have also removed the policy fees on new Equimax sales, reducing total premium payments – allowing clients to buy even more coverage for the same payment.
The following enhancements add more value, making it easier for you to recommend Equimax as your preferred whole life solution.- Monthly Excelerator Deposit Option(EDO) payments and EDO payments received off anniversary will now buy more paid-up additional insurance,
- Dividends earned on EDO payment paid-up additions, and credited on the base policy, can now buy even more paid-up additions,
- New clients now have the option to elect individual policies on joint last to die (JLTD) plans if their personal situation changes,
- We have also changed the way we calculate monthly premiums – resulting in lower premium payments across the board,
- And we have added our KIND™ benefit program to Equimax, as we did for our newest Generations Universal Life solution last September – making it easier for families and beneficiaries at claim time.
- And, finally, we are introducing some new sales illustration features, a Web-based software and more to help you market Equimax!
Plus, visit our Equimax product page on EquiNet®, then click on the Marketing Materials tab for the latest Equimax marketing materials.
Need more information? Please contact your local wholesaler.
® and ™ denotes a trademark of The Equitable Life Insurance Company of Canada.