Benefits Interface® provides objective independent advice to small business owners

COVID-19

The virility of this virus is pushing our healthcare system beyond capacity with deadly results. Each one of us has the responsibility of staying healthy and not spreading the virus.

Supporting You

I would like to let you know that I am available to support you, especially during this stressful time. Employee benefit plans are designed to help you and your staff through good times as well as crisis. Please let me know if any aspect of your benefit plan needs to be adjusted. I am available by phone, Skype, Zoom and with an abundance of care, even in person, when appropriate.

If you don’t already provide health benefits to your staff then please talk to me. Benefits can be very affordable and go a long way to showing your care and concern for your staff and their families.

Frequently Asked Questions

How are benefits impacted by work-sharing?

During this pandemic, the maximum duration of the employment insurance work-sharing program has been extended to 76 weeks (normally 38 weeks).
Since the continuation of benefits is a requirement of the work-sharing program is to maintain all existing benefits, most benefit suppliers are willing to waive or reduce the minimum hours per week requirement specified in the insurance contract during this pandemic.

How does the closure of dental offices and professional services effect the cost of benefits?

With health insurance the premiums continue even though claims are dramatically reduced because dentist, optometrists, chiropractors, massage therapist, etc. are not permitted top provide routine services. Since rates are most commonly set on a prospectively experience rated bases, the insurance company keeps the excess profits.
With a health spending account, employees accumulate the unused contributions and have them available for use once services can be provided.

Can life and disability insurance benefits be continued for staff during a temporary layoff?

In most cases, benefit suppliers will agree to continue all or some of the benefits for employees laid off during the pandemic but will require an expected return to work date and that all employees of the same group classification be treated equally.
It may be difficult for the employer to collect the employee’s share of the benefit cost during this time. If the employer covers the cost of an employee paid LTD benefit then the deductions need to be made-up before the end of the calendar year or be added to the employee’s T-4 as a taxable benefit.

Can drug, dental, vision and medical benefits be continued for staff during a temporary layoff?

In most cases, benefit suppliers will agree to continue all or some of the benefits for employees laid off during the pandemic.
With health insurance, the monthly premium must continue to be paid in order for new expenses to be covered.
With health spending accounts, coverage may continue for the purpose of claim payments and the employer has the option to either continue to make monthly contributions or suspend contributions during the temporary layoff.

Expect the Best but Prepare for the Worst

Having lived through a few recessions, anthrax alerts, SCARS and H1N1, I activated our pandemic preparedness plan on January 24, 2020 with the news of the first reported case of Novel Coronavirus in Canada. Within a week the PPE, sanitation and office supplies were toped-up, ultraviolet light sterilization equipment purchased and IT hardware more than 2 years old was replaced. During February, the colocation site was activated, workstations rearranged to ensure a 2-meter berth and the elimination of shared equipment. In March, social distancing, N95 masks, hand sanitizers, increased cleaning and special handling for incoming mail became the new normal.

The influx of new business during March was overwhelming as those businesses considered essential introduced health benefits for their staff that are required to work amidst such uncertainty. The duration of this pandemic is being devoted to helping clients reassess their benefit plan design to ensure the desired results are being achieved.

Benefit Plan Review

Connect with me if you would like to assess how your benefit plan can best respond to this crisis.

John Vandeweerd, President
Benefits Interface, Inc.
info@benefits.org
905-577-7685
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