Canada Life Life Insurance Reviews

Phone wait time is over an hour. Customer service are completely incompetent. They never have any answers for your questions. Stay away!!!

We recently switched our benefits from Greensheild to Canada Life. The plan was supposed to be the same as Greenshields. Over a month ago I submitted a claim for my session with my Psychotherapist. Someone I have developed a trusting relationship with over the past 4 months. My relationship with her is very important and the first Therapist I have connected with after trying 3 others. I cannot afford 100.00 dollar sessions a month on my own (blows my mind places believe $500.00 a year is enough).

I received a decline in coverage because she is a psychotherapist. Apparently, Canada Life only recognizes psychologists and social workers. I am absolutely mortified they have narrowed Mental Health down to only two types of practitioners. Psychotherapists are registered and extremely effective.

Canada Life does not believe in the importance of Mental Health if they are willing to only accept two types of practitioners. Fear not, they will cover it up by offering broad mental health articles that do not relate to you or your needs at all because according to them, everybody is the same.

My plan covers "Psychotherapy".
I called in advance because I wanted to check that this particular Psychotherapist would be covered. They confirmed that she was, after checking her credentials in their system.

After 4 weeks (and over $1000) spent on this service, I finally found out my first claim was rejected.

I phoned to ask why and they couldn't answer. I asked to speak to the adjuster, and they said they have no way of contacting them. They are claiming that a "CCC" (Canadian Clinical Counselor) is not covered, despite this being the official designation for psychotherapists. There is no such thing as a "Certified Psychotherapist" - the CCC literally IS that designation, issued by the governing body in Canada (CCPA).

Unbelievably frustrating. Hopefully, they'll correct their mistake but it shouldn't be this painful to actually have your insurance covered.

What an absolute crock.

They did not respond to emails or calls! They don't have a clear policy.
It is hard to communicate with them.

Wait time is deplorable. Waited for over an hour, fell asleep! Like I have nothing better to do?

I have been trying to get information regarding my life insurance policy for over two months now. My advisor is incompetent. After over 20 emails and numerous phone calls, I have nothing. No response. I asked him to change my address also and…he didn’t…I did when I called. Then a week after he emails me saying he changed my address??? No… he is negligent and I am considering terminating my life insurance policy and getting it somewhere else.

Why I would NEVER recommend Canada Life extended health... their coverage might sound fine but they are terrible to deal with.

1. Dozens of experiences where they exceeded their standard payment timelines, when inquiries were sent them would reply with their standard timelines - VERY UNHELPFUL
Our average turnaround time for claims is:
- 5 business days - health and dental
- 7 business days - pay direct drugs
- 10 business days - out of the country
Don't be fooled, they are almost always going to exceed these timelines and only pay after multiple emails.

2. You can't actually get anyone to answer the phone (in English, I understand you can get through on the French line). I have spent 2 and 3 hours on the phone waiting to talk to someone, as have others I've spoken to, only to get to the front of the queue and be hung up on. Emails often take up to 5 business days to get a response.

3. Even after my organization got a dedicated contact whose email signature indicated she was a Regional Service Manager my claims remained unpaid after one month. What good is a plan that doesn't reimburse clients for allowed health expenses?

Of course, there are many things to consider, but I would recommend you steer clear of Canada Life at all costs! They aren't a good company and I would give them zero stars if I could.

As a practitioner, we deal with this company a lot, specifically direct billing through Telus Health. Here are two areas of improvement in which they know about, but seem to have no interest in improving upon.

1. Commonly the billing submission is termed as "under review" and not accepted. However, their software and practitioner interface does not allow you the check on the "under review" submission and requires you to call.

2. There must only be a total of two people working the helpline, and they must have severe cognitive delays because in the rare chance you get to talk to someone without waiting an hour, they promptly transfer you to the wrong department or drop your call.

In all honesty, this seems like an intentional way of reducing the volume of claims and saving the company money- ie- Annoy the shit out the practitioners so they won't direct bill, and hope the cost of paying out of pocket for some patients (then being reimbursed) is prohibitive for some of the poor souls that have their subpar insurance.

PS- 1/5 stars was given because 0/5 stars was not an option

There aren't enough words or examples to describe how abhorrent Canada Life is as a benefits provider. If there were zero or negative stars available, I would rate them as such.

My company has used Canada Life as our group benefits provider for several years, and I can only assume that it's because they are the cheapest possible option on the market. There are literally no redeeming factors to their service.

A few highlights of my experience include:

-Inordinately Long Wait Times: I've often waited on hold for 1.5 hours, only to be disconnected due to "system issues".

-Segmentation of Expertise: Each customer service rep can only assist you with one type of claim. If you need help with the Drugs vs. Health vs. Healthcare Spending Account, be prepared to talk to three different individuals, with a lengthy wait time in between each. You will also have to provide your identifying credentials every single time.

-Incompetent Staff: 75% of the customer service reps have no idea how to do their job. Asking them a simple question requires them to put you on hold for another 5-10 minutes while they investigate your query. They will rarely have a response on the spot and will claim that they'll call you back after they look into the matter further. Don't hold your breath.

-Processing Times: On average, it will take 4+ weeks for your claim to be processed. Their ongoing excuse is that they are short-staffed due to the pandemic. Cry me a river. Maybe they should hire better staff and pay them adequately. (See "Incompetent Staff" above.)

-Claim Errors: Your claim is finally processed - great! Not so fast, as you will need to review the results with a fine-toothed comb. Their team makes numerous "data entry errors", resulting in you only receiving a fraction of what you're owed. Time to follow up with incompetent reps after long wait times, thus causing the entire cycle to repeat itself.

I have no words of advice, other than to encourage your employer to avoid Canada Life AT ALL COSTS. My husband's company uses a different carrier, and the experience is the complete opposite.

I had a large medical expense upcoming. It took hours to figure out whether my plan even covered it. It took nearly a month to complete a pre-assessment because they wanted extra documentation and didn't let me know they wanted it; I had to call (and wait 2 hours on the line) and ask why it was taking so long. The pre-assessment was approved. The claim took 3 weeks to process and was denied for reasons I wasn't, at any point, told would be an issue, even when I asked an agent over the phone if it would be an issue. I appealed and it was still denied. I'm considering talking to a lawyer.