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Canada Life ends up as sole bidder for public service health plan contract | CBC
News Loaded
Ottawa
CANADA LIFE ENDS UP AS SOLE BIDDER FOR PUBLIC SERVICE HEALTH PLAN CONTRACT
The president of the Treasury Board Secretariat (TBS) says Canada Life met the
standard to win the contract for the Public Service Health Care Plan even though
it ended up the only bidder.
CANADA LIFE MET STANDARD TO WIN PUBLIC SERVICE HEALTH CARE PLAN CONTRACT:
TREASURY BOARD PRESIDENT
CBC News · Posted: Nov 01, 2023 10:36 AM EDT | Last Updated: November 2
Many people covered by the Public Service Health Care Plan have told CBC stories
about challenges getting through to Canada Life about their claims. (CBC)
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The president of the Treasury Board Secretariat (TBS) says Canada Life met the
standard to win the contract for the Public Service Health Care Plan even though
it ended up the only bidder.
Around 1.7 million federal workers, retirees and their dependents saw their
insurance provider switch from Sun Life to Canada Life on July 1.
With the switch came changes to what services and drugs are covered, how they're
approved and what happens when they need to talk to an agent. CBC has heard
hundreds of stories from people now having problems with long wait times,
failing to get through to an agent or being denied a claim without explanation.
* Begging for Benefits
Health plan switch halts benefits to dead soldier's daughters
* Begging for Benefits
Who holds the blame for problems with the Public Service Health Care Plan?
Treasury Board President Anita Anand said the bidding process began in 2018 with
industry engagement, followed by a request for proposals from insurance
providers. In an email Wednesday afternoon, Public Services and Procurement
Canada confirmed it received three bids during the request for proposal process
for the $514 million contract.
"Towards the end of the process, it turned out that Canada Life was the only
bidder remaining, but it was nevertheless evaluated by those technical criteria
and met those technical criteria," she said on CBC Radio's Ottawa Morning
Wednesday.
"I want to be clear that there was a standard in place that was met by Canada
Life in terms of the scoring of the bids before it was selected."
* Begging for benefits
Woman's health 'sliding backwards' after drug coverage pulled
* Begging for Benefits
Health-care plan switch to Canada Life leaves people frustrated, stressed
SHORT-TERM FIXES COMING: ANAND
Anita Anand says the government now needs to ensure Canada Life follows through
on its commitment as laid out in its contract. (Adrian Wyld/Canadian Press)
Anand said she has been "pressing" Canada Life for a plan to solve employee
issues and there were three solutions being pitched:
* Getting call wait times down to between five and 10 minutes by Dec. 31.
* Having call centres open on weekends for the next several weeks to cut down
the backlog.
* Introducing an escalation process for urgent or priority cases.
Anand said changes made to the plan, including claim limits and coverage terms
and eligibility, were approved in the fall of 2022 after negotiations between
the government, bargaining units and the pensioner representatives.
She said those changes are compounding the issues and Canada Life didn't expect
"that there would be so many calls related to the changes … that came into
effect on the same day that they took over providing service."
The changes were independent of the switch to Canada Life and
involved several coverage increases, though it did introduce new limits related
to drug coverage — including a cap on dispensing fees and a requirement for a
pre-authorization for high-cost medications — and physiotherapy.
* Many public servants still waiting on Canada Life to process claims
Anand said for people who think a denied claim should be covered, there is an
appeal process for members "who don't agree with the decision regarding their
claim."
Those appeals are judged on a case-by-case basis.
She said the only thing the government can do at this point is enforce the
contractual obligations Canada Life committed to when it won the bid.
We need to make sure we "don't create even worse problems by having no service
provider," Anand said.
"There was one bidder and so we need to make sure that the current provider is
able to offer its services as much as effectively as possible and as quickly as
possible."
CORRECTIONS
* A previous version of this story said Anita Anand said negotiations in 2022
included the provider. In fact, she misspoke and it was the pensioners who
were also included in those negotiations.
Nov 02, 2023 10:05 AM ET
With files from Ottawa Morning
CBC's Journalistic Standards and Practices|About CBC News
Corrections and clarifications|Submit a news tip|Report error
RELATED STORIES
* Begging for Benefits
Health plan switch halts benefits to dead soldier's daughters
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Who holds the blame for problems with the Public Service Health Care Plan?
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Woman's health 'sliding backwards' after drug coverage pulled
* Begging for Benefits
Health-care plan switch to Canada Life leaves people frustrated, stressed
* Many public servants still waiting on Canada Life to process claims
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