Pensioners wary as federal dental plan switches to Canada Life

Sixteen months after Canada Life took over the administration of the Public Service Health Care Plan (PSHCP), hundreds of thousands of federal retirees are hoping to avoid similar problems now that their dental plan is under the same provider.

"I have some dental work coming up that has to be done. I've seen the history [with the PSHCP], I've seen how these claims have been handled," said Debbie Myers, who's been retired from the federal public service since 2020 after working for the government for 15 years.

On July 1, 2023, 1.7 million federal public servants, retirees and their dependants saw their health coverage switch from Sun Life to Canada Life under a $514-million contract. Dozens of changes to the plan itself also went into effect at that time, affecting coverage for some members.

There followed months of frustration for many members, from being unable to reach a call centre agent to having medications they'd taken for years suddenly denied because of changes to the plan.

Myers said, in one instance, it took MSH, which is subcontracted by Canada Life to handle supplementary coverage for retirees who travel overseas, more than three months to reimburse her $175 for an out-of-country visit to a doctor, and more than five months for Canada Life to reimburse her $54 for a prescription related to that same claim.

"It does really scare me, and I really hope that they are ahead on their game this time," Myers said of the dental plan switch.

Ralph Landry, who worked for Global Affairs Canada for nearly four decades before retiring in 2000, shares that fear.

"Because of what we saw with the [health] plan, we're not overly enthused as to what might happen in the near future with regard to the dental plan," said Landry.

Dental plan switched Nov. 1

While current federal employees already have their dental plan with Canada Life, 325,000 federal retirees saw their dental plan switch to the insurance company Nov. 1. 

The new contract for the Pensioners' Dental Services Plan (PDSP) is in place until 2032. CBC has not been able to determine how much Canada Life is being paid to take over the dental plan.

In a statement to CBC, the Treasury Board Secretariat [TBS] said it learned from the problems experienced during the PSHCP transition and "leveraged lessons learned to support a positive experience for [PDSP] members."

"In the first week of service, over 75,000 claims have been paid, and over 15,000 calls have been answered with an average wait time of 7 seconds [for both dental plans]. We'll remain focused on supporting members to ensure the smooth continuity of dental care benefits," Canada Life wrote in an email to CBC. 

Retirees' association lobbied for delay

But a group representing some federal retirees, as well as retired military members and RCMP officers, said it's also worried about the switchover.

The pensioners' dental plan was set to transition to Canada Life on July 1, but was delayed four months at the request of the National Association of Federal Retirees after it heard from members who were concerned about the switch.

"I think everybody learned from [the PSHCP transition] experience, and we're hoping that Canada Life will have the capacity to support members ... so that it's a seamless dental claim process without delay," said Hélène Nadeau, the association's vice-president.

We received limited information with a lot of, to a certain extent, I will use the word poppycock.- Ralph Landry, federal retiree

Among the improvements TBS pointed to was automatic enrolment of more than 99 per cent of dental plan members, and adding more Canada Life agents to handle higher call volumes.

TBS said it has also taken steps to ensure claims won't be denied if a dentist or plan member inadvertently uses an old plan number or ID.

But Landry said communication has been lacking this time, too.

"We received limited information with a lot of ... I will use the word poppycock," he said.

Landry said he's not hopeful the changes will make much of a difference when it comes to getting claims reimbursed.

"Time will tell. I only hope Canada Life is more on their toes than they were when we switched from Sun Life to Canada Life for the health plan," he said.