Dental Fee Guide Increases

The administrator of your Dental Benefit use information contained in the provincial/territorial fee guides to establish appropriate reimbursement levels for dental services incurred by plan members by ensuring dental fees are representative of what the majority of dentists charge.

For Alberta, each administrator determines their own benchmark and we have used an average of rates provided by a number of dental plan administrators.

Following are the suggested fee guide increases for 2015.

New Brunswick Mandatory Drug Coverage Eliminated

The bill mandating minimum drug coverage that we outlined in our November Update has been eliminated. This removes the requirement for employer sponsored group drug plans to meet minimum coverage standards. As a result, plan sponsors will not be required to make any changes to their existing plans.

Good News from SOA

The Society of Actuaries (SOA) released updated mortality tables which show longevity is increasing and people are living longer. For example, males, age 65, are expected to live an additional two years to age 86.6 when compared to the longevity in 2000, which was 84.6. For women, this increased by 2.4 years to 88.8 in 2014 from 86.4 in 2000.

To date, there has not been any adjustments to rate tables for Life insurance.

Premium Tax Increases in Quebec

The Quebec Economic Statement released on December 2, 2014 included tax measures that became effective immediately. The premium tax is now 3.48% versus the previous rate of 2.30%.

Plan sponsors can expect to see this change impact on any renewals from February 2015 forward. For plans underwritten on an Administrative Services Only (ASO) or Retention Accounting basis, financial statements will include a pro-rated tax rate to reflect the date this change was effective.