The federal health insurance company apologizes to federal officials for the poor care.
Since Canada life After the company took over in July, current and former public employees have reported numerous problems, including prescription rejections and long wait times for customer service.
“We get complaints about Canada Life every day,” said Chris Aylward, national president of the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC).
Approximately 1.7 million federal employees, retirees and their dependents are covered by Canada Life. Many say they have faced long waits or been denied insurance claims.
On Thursday, Canada Life appeared before a committee in the House of Commons. The insurer apologized for the problems and said it had increased staff at its call and claims processing centers to reduce wait times.
“Our action plan is working,” said Ryan Weiss, senior vice president of Canada Life. “As previously mentioned, call wait times now average around one to three minutes, claims are processed within around two days and our top priority now is maintaining service levels.”
Della Wilkison, a retiree in Ottawa who is insured with Canada Life, was having trouble getting her insulin pump supplies, the reservoirs that deliver her insulin.
The issues were resolved after speaking with CTV News in October.
“I spoke on the phone for three hours before the call was cut off. When I called recently, the call was answered within half an hour. So I think they really did get better,” she said.
In a statement to CTV News, Canada Life says they continue to make improvements.
“We understand how important these benefits are to individuals and, as part of our customer service action plan, have established an escalation process for urgent cases so that every customer can access their benefits under this plan,” a Canada Life spokesperson said in a statement told CTV News Ottawa.
PSAC says it is still hearing from members who are frustrated with the service.
“A single mother paying $800 a month for life-saving diabetic care and having to fight with Canada Life every month for reimbursement – that’s not good enough,” Aylward said.
“This apology will not hold our members accountable.”
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