What to do if you don’t have benefits

The time between graduating from school to landing a full-time job with benefits can stretch on for months or years. And with the growing use of contract employees who don’t receive benefits, young Canadians must often fend for themselves and buy their own supplemental health and dental insurance. What should they do?

Decide what you need: Loretta Kulchycki, vice-president of group marketing at Great-West Life, suggests you start your hunt for health and dental benefits by deciding how much coverage you’ll need and researching your options online.

“If you are young, you will tend to be healthier, and in that case would probably have lower premiums than somebody who, say, is planning for a retiree product,” she said.

Insurance companies generally offer a choice of the level of coverage, from bare bones plans that provide basic prescription drug coverage and dental checkups to comprehensive options with higher limits and a broader range of coverage. How much you want to spend will depend on your budget and what you expect your needs to be since costs can quickly escalate depending on how much coverage you’re looking to buy.

How often do you think you’ll go to the dentist? Do you wear glasses? Do you think you’ll need the services of a physiotherapist? Those are all questions you should ask yourself when considering coverage.

Think about pre-existing conditions: Laurel Pedersen, assistant vice-president of health insurance product development at Sun Life, says if you have a pre-existing health condition, you have some choices. A “guaranteed issue” plan may be more expensive, but will cover a preexisting condition, while a fully underwritten plan may be cheaper, but exclude costs connected with your outstanding health issues. Pedersen says an adviser can walk you through your options and will understand what the different plans will cost, how they work and what might be in your best interest.

Act quickly: Sue Reibel, senior vice-president of consumer solutions at Manulife, says if you’re coming off your parents’ group plan or another insurance plan, time is of the essence. You generally have about 60 days when you can roll yourself into an individual plan without going through underwriting. “You’ve got an opportunity to get a preferential purchase,” she said. “If you pass that time frame, then you’re buying (while) taking all of your individual circumstances into account and it may affect your price.”

Know what you have: It’s important to understand what other coverage you already have and what you need so you don’t end up paying for non-essential items or lacking insurance for something you could have anticipated.

“It takes some time to really think about your personal situation and reflect,” Reibel said. It is not a big investment of time, we’re talking about half an hour of thinking that can save you a lot of money.” Star wires services