Buy insurance online via CAA, Securian Canada

East Kildonan

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This article was published 14/02/2024 (644 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A new initiative of the Canadian Automobile Association (CAA) and Securian Canada, an insurance company, has the potential to provide millions of uninsured Canadians with affordable health, dental, life and critical-illness insurance. And advancements in technology make it possible.

Securian Canada CEO Nigel Branker said the product was built from the ground up with digital convenience in mind. Younger Canadians, many of whom are uninsured, prefer to shop and conduct other business online. They only bring in a human when they must.

More than 40 per cent of Canadians are uninsured, and the main reason is price; 80 per cent cite the cost. Less than half (44 per cent) of Canadians with lower incomes have access to employer benefits, a rate that rises to 83 per cent for folks with higher incomes.

Branker said he hopes to use the combination of CAA’s seven million members, a comfortable buying journey, and competitive prices to increase the number of insured Canadians. Costs will be kept down due to administrative savings and CAA’s formidable marketing ability.

Branker said it takes an industry average of 10 weeks to buy life insurance. He estimates that as many as 70 per cent of applicants will be finished within 20 minutes. A full life insurance policy takes as few as 26 questions, with health and dental insurance only five minutes.

“We worked hard to simplify the underwriting, to not have to have a lot of intrusive medical exams. Even the people we need more information from, we try to do it within five business days,” Branker told me.

“There’s a difference in taking products that weren’t designed to be digital and trying to deliver them digitally versus actually going back… and building natively digital products. Building natively digital products has allowed us to do some of these things with the underwriting that has allowed us to open up coverage.”

Most applicants don’t need a medical exam. That is thanks to data analysis that identifies the most correlative questions to ask. There are also fewer products on offer, so there are fewer areas to analyze.

Technology also allows applicants to buy a policy for their spouse, kids, and future kids. Branker said. Policyholders can access tele-medicine and mental health support.

“This is pretty affordable; it’s pretty easy, Branker said. “CAA is a trusted brand. And as they look at their membership demographics, we feel we can greatly help there.”

Over time, technology might make the process even easier. As more data becomes available, artificial intelligence can be used to analyze the accuracy of specific questions more deeply.

For more information, visit securiancanada.ca/caa