The Chambers of Commerce Group Insurance Plan is a not-for-profit employee benefit plan developed and operated specifically for Board/Chamber member needs nationally. As Canada’s largest pooled plan of its kind, with over 30,000 participating firms, it can provide you with the budget certainty your SME is looking for.
The Chambers Plan was built around the needs of SME’s, so it includes a significant amount of no cost addons that many benefit plans either do not have or, charge extra for. Included with the plan are things like, BAS (Business Assistance Service) which provides your business with 9 hours of legal, accounting or HR consulting. In addition, the BAS provides some employer driven counselling and help for employees. The Healthy Business Bookmark provides an additional array of HR resources from links to items you might need, articles on HR topics, and even templates to help you manage your business.
Teladoc is included for all firms with extended health coverage providing your employees with medical consulting access from wherever they may be. Also, access to Best Doctors is provided for second opinions, and help finding specialists for plan members and their close family.
Our EAP, or Employee Assistance Program is provided through Arete, one of Canada’s top providers of employee counselling services. At a very low cost, this benefit can provide employees with hours of counselling at a time when mental health claims and concerns are on the rise.
Like most benefit plans the Chambers Plan has a variety of options that you might want to select, from life insurance, critical illness and disability protection, extended health care, vision and dental coverage.
What makes it unique is that as a not-for-profit program, options are available for smaller firms (under 10 employees) to have fully pooled benefits. For firms with 3-99 employees a partially pooled option also provides cost certainty by pooling the majority of firms claims each year. Plan inflation has run under that of the industry for more than 20 years. In addition, with the non-profit nature, the plan has less overhead and remains competitively priced.
Locally designated advisors (by postal code) ensure you can have local service and our advisor network is exclusive, so they focus on the product and are better able to guide you to good plan design decisions.
The plan has evolved each year to better meet the needs and budgets of Canadian entrepreneurs. Things are constantly being reviewed to help the network of members nationally, and the COVID-19 situation was no exception. Within weeks of the pandemic taking hold a microsite was established and running, providing members with additional resources and FAQ’s to deal with the evolving landscape. Premium reductions were put in place, and many exceptions were made to help our SME members survive. These ranged from plan changes and reduction, to postponing benefits or more lenient payment options. Help with employee situations like temporary COVID layoffs and return to work situations, as well as employer legal obligations were just part of the support provided.
It’s worth taking a look at the Chambers Plan for your SME, for a no obligation request for quote or more info please go to www.chamberplan.ca .
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