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SUPPLEMENTARY
HEALTH INSURANCE
Government or public plans provide comprehensive coverage of core health care
services such as ward-level hospital acute care and most physician services.
Supplementary plans, the subject of this brochure, focus on non-core services that
are not covered – or not fully covered – by government plans. They may be group
plans sponsored by employers, unions and associations or individual plans that
consumers purchase for themselves.
What Is Covered?
Coverage varies considerably, partly because coverage of non-core services by
government plans varies from province to province, and partly because group
plan sponsors and individual plan purchasers choose varying kinds and levels of
benefits. So it is important to carefully review the features of your group plan or an
individual plan you are considering purchasing.
Extended health and dental plans are the most common kinds of supplementary
health insurance plans.
To the extent that such services are not covered by your government plan, the
health care services insured by extended health plans commonly include:
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