16
Canadian Life & Health Insurance Facts // 2020 Edition
Notes
Supplementary health
reimburses a variety of
expenses, such as prescription
drugs, dental, hospital and
medical expenses, that are
not covered by provincial
government plans.
Disability
helps replace lost income
due to disability (frequently
integrated with Public
Pension Plans, Workers'
Compensation and
Employment Insurance),
usually paying around two-
thirds of earnings.
** Source
2020 Prescription Drug
Trend Report, Express
Scripts Canada
Accident & other
includes coverage for
accidental death and
dismemberment, long-term
care and critical illness.
* Paramedical
refers to services and
professions, such as
physiotherapy, that
supplement and support
medical treatment.
Canadians access health insurance
in two ways, through group plans
provided by employers, unions
or professional associations, and
individual plans that are purchased
by individual consumers.
How Canadians purchase
health insurance policies
$
48.3B
2019 health
premiums
Ninety per cent of health insurance is
purchased through a group plan
Individual: 10%
Group: 90%
80%
of working Canadians and
their families are protected
by private health insurance
plans, up from 76 per cent
a decade ago.
Cost-effective health protection
The majority of health insurance premiums are paid out
as benefits to policyholders (5-year average).
8%
operating
costs
3%
taxes
3%
profits
86%
paid out to
policyholders
as benefits