Where your plan stands, in plain language
Harbourline Industries — Halifax · 200 covered members · August 01, 2025 - July 31, 2026. Every figure opens for the detail behind it.
Compare every class
| Members | Premium a year | Ask | Loss ratio target 83% | Asked vs claims | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Whole planone policy | 500 | $2,764,642 | +12.1% | 88% | +$157,454 |
| By class · the carrier applies one increase to all three | |||||
| Owners | 6 | $93,863 | +12.3% | not shown | — |
| Executives | 34 | $389,110 | +11.8% | 107.4% | −$52,081 |
| All other employees | 460 | $2,281,669 | +12.1% | 83.9% | +$225,992 |
| By division · the same rates, different claims | |||||
| HalifaxHead office | 200 | $1,186,437 | +12% | 85.9% | +$74,628 |
| MonctonManufacturing plant | 200 | $1,051,640 | +12.1% | 91.7% | +$41,984 |
| St. John'sDistribution | 100 | $526,565 | +12.1% | 85.3% | +$40,842 |
"Asked vs claims" is the carrier's ask on the experience-rated lines against what this slice's own trended claims support at the target loss ratio. A plus is money asked for that the slice's claims do not justify.
The reconciliation — health, drugs, dental, vision and short-term disability
Health, drugs, dental, vision and short-term disability are the lines the carrier prices at least partly on your own claims, so they are the only lines a claims argument can move. Employee Term Life, AD&D, Dependent Life, Long Term Disability and Contact are not priced on your claims. They are listed beneath at the carrier's ask, and the two together are the whole-plan figure of $1,328,356/yr.
The carrier is asking $74,628/yr more than your health, drugs, dental, vision and short-term disability claims support at the market trend (9.2% a year), and $77,901 more than even its own 9% trend would justify. The pages below walk through where that gap comes from and what we do about it — nothing here is accepted as-is.
Outside the reconciliation, carried at the carrier's ask: Employee Term Life ($102,212/yr), AD&D ($14,733/yr), Dependent Life ($4,836/yr), Long Term Disability ($79,570/yr), Contact ($9,480/yr) — priced on demographics, volume or a flat fee, not on this group's claims. With that added back the letter's whole-plan ask is $1,328,356/yr (+12% overall).
What the carrier keeps
The 83% target loss ratio already gives the carrier 17% of every premium dollar for administration, commissions and margin. What a renewal asks above that is the carrier's view of next year: its trend and, where it does not rate the group fully on its own claims, its manual rate. This is what each number would keep, against this year's claims, held flat.
| On health, drugs, dental, vision and short-term disability, per year | Premium | Claims | Carrier keeps | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Last year, premium at today's rates | $985,840 | $749,440 | $236,400 | 24% |
| The renewal | $1,117,524 | $749,440 | $368,084 | 32.9% |
The renewal raises the carrier's share of your health, drugs, dental, vision and short-term disability premium from 24% to 32.9%, 15.9 points above the carrier's own target if claims hold at last year's level; whatever next year's trend adds comes out of that. The reconciliation above grants the carrier a market trend for the whole horizon; this table grants it none. The negotiation lives between the two.
What's driving it — trended adjusted loss ratio
The dashed line is the 83% target — anything above it is costing you rate.
$79,800 in large claims already pooled out
The large-claim pool absorbed $79,800 this period against a $25,000 pooling level. The pooling charge is 7.5%. Confirm the pooling is doing its job. A lower level strips more of a large-claim spike off the experience-rated portion, but the pooling charge rises with it — ask the carrier to price both before moving.
One therapeutic class is 19% of drug spend
This therapy accounts for $49,033 of drug spend — 19%, concentrated in an estimated 6–17 claimants. Chronic and non-discretionary: it is a forecasting input rather than something to design out.
One therapeutic class is 19% of drug spend
This therapy accounts for $49,032 of drug spend — 19%. Chronic and non-discretionary: it is a forecasting input rather than something to design out.
One therapeutic class is 16% of drug spend
This therapy accounts for $41,291 of drug spend — 16%, concentrated in a small number of claimants. No formulary change reduces this materially — the levers are prior authorisation, a biosimilar pathway, or pooling.
One therapeutic class is 15% of drug spend
This therapy accounts for $38,710 of drug spend — 15%. Chronic and non-discretionary: it is a forecasting input rather than something to design out.
Where this is heading
Next year's expected claims against today's premium. The gap to the target is what the renewal's increase is priced to close; plan changes close it from the other side, by lowering the claims. Flip the changes below and watch the second bar move.
Next year's expected claims against today's premium. The gap to the target is what the renewal's increase is priced to close; plan changes close it from the other side, by lowering the claims. The figure below is where it starts, before any of the changes on the following pages.
target 83% · —
Getting the plan back on track
These are the usual changes for a plan of this size and shape, priced on your own claims. Without the plan booklet on file, each assumes the plan does not already have it — switch off any it does, and the total follows. The drug figures are shares of the claims total, pending the prescription drug report. The package below is sized against the gap to target; the trims underneath are real but small, there for when you want them.
What is this, in plain terms?
On an open formulary the plan pays for whichever drug is prescribed. A managed formulary is a preferred list: where several drugs do the same job, the plan covers the best-priced one first, and steps up to costlier options when the doctor confirms they're needed. The same conditions get treated — the plan just stops paying premium prices by default.
More trims (5)
What is this, in plain terms?
Most brand-name drugs have a chemically identical generic version at a fraction of the price. This sets the plan to pay the generic price by default. Members still get the brand when the doctor writes that substitution isn't appropriate — or by paying the small difference themselves.
What is this, in plain terms?
A handful of specialty drugs can cost more than everything else on the plan combined. Prior authorization means the carrier confirms one of those prescriptions is the right fit before it starts paying. For almost everyone this changes nothing at all, because almost nobody is on one of these drugs. A member who is prescribed one waits on an approval step, and the plan is protected from the largest single surprise a drug plan can produce.
What is this, in plain terms?
Every prescription includes a pharmacy service fee on top of the drug itself, and it varies by store — a few dollars at some pharmacies, over $12 at others. A cap sets the most the plan reimburses for that fee; members using pricier pharmacies can switch, or cover the difference.
What is this, in plain terms?
A recall is the routine cleaning and check-up. Many offices book every 6 months out of habit; for most healthy adults, 9 months is clinically ordinary. This changes how often the plan pays for routine visits — anything a dentist flags as needed is still covered.
What is this, in plain terms?
Each province's dental association publishes a fee guide every year, and prices creep up with it. Holding reimbursement to the prior year's guide means the plan does not automatically absorb this year's increase. Most dentists bill at the current guide, so a member may see a small balance — typically a few dollars a visit — where the plan once covered the whole amount.
What we still need from you
- The benefits booklet. It confirms what the plan already has, so each change above can drop the assumption it carries, and it prices what cannot be priced without it: combine / reduce paramedical maximums, trim the vision allowance, reduce the dental annual maximum, introduce a health deductible and health coinsurance step-down.
- The prescription drug report — a Top DIN listing or the carrier's drug claims report. It turns the drug ranges above into analysis of this plan's own prescriptions.
None of these decisions are due today. We run the carrier, the paperwork, and the staff communications end to end.
The renewal, line by line
Every benefit, what you pay today against the renewal. The renewal column is the carrier's ask as this report states it. Nothing in it has been negotiated yet.
| Benefit | Lives / vol. | Current / mo | Renewal / mo | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pooled benefits | ||||
| Employee Term Life | 38,368,000 | $8,211 | $8,518 | +3.7% |
| AD&D | 38,368,000 | $1,228 | $1,228 | +0% |
| Dependent Life | 130 | $403 | $403 | +0% |
| Long Term Disability | 975,124 | $6,085 | $6,631 | +9% |
| Short Term Disability | 197,058 | $11,331 | $12,691 | +12% |
| Contact | 200 | $790 | $790 | +0% |
| Pooled benefits subtotal | $28,047 | $30,260 | +7.9% | |
| Healthcare | ||||
| Single | 70 | $2,818 | $3,255 | +15.5% |
| Couple | 49 | $4,686 | $5,412 | +15.5% |
| Family | 81 | $10,644 | $12,294 | +15.5% |
| Healthcare subtotal | $18,147 | $20,960 | +15.5% | |
| Drugs | ||||
| Single | 70 | $4,435 | $5,189 | +17% |
| Couple | 49 | $6,645 | $7,775 | +17% |
| Family | 81 | $14,653 | $17,144 | +17% |
| Drugs subtotal | $25,733 | $30,108 | +17% | |
| Dental | ||||
| Single | 70 | $4,138 | $4,531 | +9.5% |
| Couple | 49 | $6,196 | $6,785 | +9.5% |
| Family | 81 | $13,638 | $14,933 | +9.5% |
| Dental subtotal | $23,972 | $26,249 | +9.5% | |
| Vision | ||||
| Single | 70 | $465 | $488 | +5% |
| Couple | 49 | $767 | $805 | +5% |
| Family | 81 | $1,739 | $1,826 | +5% |
| Vision subtotal | $2,971 | $3,120 | +5% | |
| Total | $98,870 | $110,696 | +12% | |
The experience behind it
The carrier's trended loss ratio by benefit — the claims figure its own working rates on, carried forward to next year, against premium. Anything over the 83% target is running above what it's priced for. Credibility is how much of your own result the carrier uses.
| Benefit | Trended loss ratio | Credibility |
|---|---|---|
| Short Term Disability | 57.2% | 60% |
| Health | 88.2% | 100% |
| Drug | 100.5% | 100% |
| Dental | 82.4% | 100% |
| Vision | 83.6% | 100% |
The road ahead, with your selections
Every saving above has an operational half — what actually changes for your staff. This list follows the switches: flip a change off and its consequences leave with it.
- Managed drug formularyNew prescriptions in managed classes start on the preferred option; moving off it needs the prescriber's supporting note. Existing therapies usually carry over — we confirm the carrier's grandfathering in writing before anything changes.
- Mandatory generic substitutionPharmacists fill the generic unless the prescriber writes no-substitution; a member who insists on the brand pays the difference at the counter.
- Prior authorization on specialty drugsNew specialty prescriptions need the carrier's approval before first fill — typically a few business days. We chase the paperwork so members don't have to.
- Dispensing-fee capMembers at higher-fee pharmacies pay the difference or switch — we provide a list of low-fee pharmacies nearby.
- Dental recall to every 9 monthsRoutine cleanings move to every 9 months. The dental office books on the plan's schedule once told — one line in the member notice covers it.
- Hold to the prior-year dental fee guideReimbursement holds at the prior-year fee guide, so members may pay a small difference where a dentist charges current-year rates.
Nothing selected — the plan design stays exactly as it is, and next renewal starts from the position above.
Every change is communicated to staff before it takes effect — we draft the notice, file the carrier amendment, and take the questions.
The cushion already in place
Claims above $25,000 a year (per person, per family, or per employee and separately for dependents, as the contract sets it) are pooled across the carrier's whole book, not carried by your plan alone. This period about $79,800 was absorbed by that pooling — the figures above are already net of it.
What happens next
| Action | When |
|---|---|
| We check the carrier's math on this renewal letter The letter is in hand and this review is our line-by-line check of it — the pooling, the trend factor, the credibility. Anything that does not reconcile is the first thing we take back to the carrier. | Done: this review |
| We negotiate before anything is accepted The trend factor and the credibility behind the increase are negotiated, not fixed. If the number stays high, phasing it across the year is on the table. | Upcoming — at the renewal letter (expected about Oct 18, 2026) |
| Turn on regular experience monitoring Get experience on the tightest cadence the carrier will produce, quarterly where it offers it, so a benefit crossing a threshold is caught while the window is still open and there's time to act, not reconstructed at renewal when it's already locked. | Now |
| Implement amendments + member communication Roll out the agreed plan-design changes and brief members on what changed and why, especially any new or lower maximum. Clear communication means members hear the why before they reach it — it protects trust; it doesn't make a lower maximum not a takeaway. | Upcoming — at renewal (Jan 1, 2027) |