Toronto-based Morneau Shepell Inc. will launch Canada’s first online marketplace of health and life insurance benefits later this year, which will allow retired workers to compare group plans across multiple insurance providers.
The tool will be an asset to companies that provide post-retirement access to health and life insurance coverage to employees and their former employees, who look to their employers for support in continued benefits coverage, says David Bassin, managing partner of Canadian benefits administration at Morneau Shepell, through a statement released on Thursday.
“Our retiree marketplace was designed with these needs in mind,” he explains. “Organizations can reduce the financial and administrative burden of traditional post-retirement benefits, while offering their retirees choice and competitive options with trusted insurance providers in an easy-to-use online marketplace.”
The marketplace will be open to clients of Morneau Shepell who want to ensure their employees have access to health and life coverage as they transition into retirement, and for clients who want to provide their existing retirees with choice vs traditional retiree benefit plans.
It will feature a range of medical, travel, dental, and life insurance group plans, designed specifically for retirees and provided in association with Canadian insurance companies such as Winnipeg-based Great-West Life Assurance Co., Windsor, Ont.-based Green Shield Canada and Moncton-based Medavie Blue Cross.
The program will offer guaranteed acceptance to medical, dental and travel plans upon enrollment and will include telephone access to a team of experts.
“Given that traditional retiree health benefits can cost 20% or more than the same benefits for full-time employees,” states Morneau Shepell’s announcement, “the aging population presents an obvious challenge for organizations that provide retiree benefits today, and for those that do not have a post-retirement benefits strategy for their growing aging workforce.”