Tick off what to check in a plan booklet or quote before you buy, switch or drop supplementary health coverage.
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Use this checklist with a plan booklet, a group benefits summary or an individual plan quote open in front of you. It is built around the decisions that cost Canadians money most often: buying coverage that duplicates a provincial program, missing a drug formulary restriction, being caught by a pre-existing condition exclusion, or dropping a plan before the replacement is in force.
How to use it. Work through the first group before you request quotes, so you know your real gap. The second group follows the order of a typical plan summary: premium, deductible, coinsurance, maximums, drug rules, dental rules, exclusions and renewal terms. The last group turns those facts into a decision. Your ticks are saved in this browser only.
Worked example (illustrative). A 58-year-old leaving an employer has $2,600 of yearly drug and dental bills. Ticking through the list shows that a guaranteed-issue conversion plan must be applied for within a set number of days after group coverage ends, that its drug maximum is $1,500 a year, and that an underwritten plan with higher maximums would exclude a condition treated in the last two years. Those three facts decide the choice more than the premium does.
Limits. A checklist cannot read your contract. If a clause is unclear, ask the insurer or a licensed life and health insurance advisor to explain it in writing. For medical questions about the care you need, speak to your doctor, pharmacist or dentist.
Worked Costs and Plan Checklists
A practical checklist for choosing, switching or dropping supplementary health and dental coverage in Canada, with worked arithmetic and the clauses to check first.
Claim Problems, Mistakes and Official Sources
Step-by-step: what to do when a health, drug or dental claim is refused in Canada, from the insurer's internal review to OLHI and provincial regulators, with a sample appeal outline.
Claim Problems, Mistakes and Official Sources
The costly mistakes Canadians make with health, drug and dental coverage: gaps between plans, missed deadlines, non-disclosure, duplicate coverage and claims refused on technicalities.
Worked Costs and Plan Checklists
What to do when employer health and dental benefits end after a job loss, layoff or retirement in Canada: conversion deadlines, guaranteed-issue plans, Quebec RAMQ and a cost comparison.
Claim Problems, Mistakes and Official Sources
How provincial health coverage transfers when you move within Canada, the up-to-three-month rule, Quebec's billing differences, drug programs and what to update in a private plan.
Claim Problems, Mistakes and Official Sources
Which provinces make newcomers wait for public health coverage, how to bridge the gap with private visitor or newcomer insurance, what it covers and what to check before buying.
