No Medical Health Plans

Often times health plans require a medical questionnaire to be filled by the applicant, and when the application is submitted to the insurance carrier it goes through what is called "underwriting". The medical history of the applicant (and any other insured family members) is examined, and the policy is either issued or declined. If declined a counter offer may be issued by the carrier, which can then be accepted or declined by the applicant.

The medical questionnaire requirement also depends on the type of insurance being applied for. Employee benefits traditionally do not require a medical, while individual health plans do.

However, there are several personal health plans that do not require medical questionnaires:

• FollowMe from Manulife Financial: health and dental insurance for people who have recently discontinued or lost their group insurance. Applications must be submitted within 60 days of losing the group benefits.
   
  
• FlexCare ComboPlus Starter Plan from Manulife: guaranteed acceptance health and dental coverage. Includes extended health benefits, travel insurance and AD&D.
   
  
• Basic Blue Choice from Ontario Blue Cross: comprehensive health care for Ontario residents. Coverage includes nursing care, ambulance services, dental coverage, prescription drugs, hospital benefits and more.
   
  
• Blue Vision Express Plan from Ontario Blue Cross: a personal health insurance/employee benefits  hybrid plan, which also includes monthly indemnity (similar to disability insurance). Coming soon: instant quotes and applications online.
  

It is becoming considerably more important that customers are well informed about insurer-agent relationships and agent compensation related to the products and services they buy.

In June 2005, Canadian insurance regulators released a Consultation Paper, which included a proposal to regulate what agents must disclose about their insurer relationships and compensation. The insurance industry has responded by stating that they believe an industry-led standard is preferable to such regulation.

For over a year, several insurers have been working with the Canadian Life & Health Insurance Association (CLHIA) and its industry counterparts to develop guidelines for agent disclosure. Earlier this year, the industry released an Advisor Disclosure Reference Document that sets out those guidelines. A modified version of the document for group benefits and group retirement business was released in September. The CLHIA has urged regulators to allow these guidelines to be fully implemented and assessed before taking further regulatory action.

Insurers and agents are advised to work together to ensure customers have clear and complete information. They need to disclose about the agent’s business relationships with insurers, agent compensation (including any potential incentive reward), and any conflicts of interest. 

HealthQuotes.ca is happy to announce the launch of our health and travel insurance blog.

We will be posting insurance related topics that we feel will be of use to the Canadian public.

We encourage feedback, and would like to establish a flow of information and dialog between us as brokers and the public.

All postings are stored so that people can search for topics of particular interest.

Enjoy!
The HealthQuotes.ca Team