Canadian life and health insurers paid out $154 million in individual and group life insurance claims for Covid-19-related deaths last year, according to an industry group.
The latest statistics released Tuesday by the Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association (CLHIA) provide detailed information on pandemic-related benefit payments as well as increases in life insurance and annuity premiums.
In 2020, an additional $150 million in disability benefits was paid beyond projections to support recovering workers.
“The crisis has tested and demonstrated the resilience of the life and health insurance industry and the importance of our products to the well-being of Canadians,” Stephen Frank, president and CEO of CLHIA, said in the report.
He highlighted insurers’ response to the pandemic, including measures such as premium reductions and deferrals and investments in access to online benefits.
As a result of these actions, “more than 26 million Canadians ended 2020 with access to medications and other health care supports – which is approximately the same number of Canadians who were covered at the beginning of the year,” Frank said.
The report found that overall, insurers paid $14.3 billion in life insurance benefits, $36.6 billion in health insurance benefits and $46.2 billion in retirement benefits in 2020. The total is about $97 billion, up from a record $103 billion in 2019, when $53.3 billion was paid in retirement benefits.
The report shows that total benefits paid for life, health and retirement have increased by more than 40% compared to a decade ago. In 2019, this percentage was 60%.
The increase in premiums has increased slightly. The report found that life and health insurers collected $123 billion in premium revenue last year (including $3.7 billion from foreign affiliates operating in Canada) – up from $122 billion in 2019.
Life insurance premiums contributed to the increase by 3.3%, followed by annuity insurance premiums (including segregated funds) by 1.9%. Health insurance premiums decreased by 2%.
The report found that individual life insurance coverage continued to grow, accounting for 64% of all policies in force, up from 56% in 2010. The increase was mainly due to term insurance.
The average life insurance coverage per household in Canada was $442,000 in 2020, up from $432,000 in 2019.
For detailed information, including insurers’ investment assets and tax contributions, read CLHIA Report 2021.
