The Long-Term Disability (LTD) benefit is insurance that renews annually and was calculated based on the risk characteristics of the current insured employees.  Risk factors such as age, gender, occupation, industry, and the amount of coverage on each insured are applied against the LTD rate tables to determine the composite renewal rate.  The experience of the pool may also be a factor in establishing a renewal rate for this plan.

The calculated overall increase presented by *SSQ Financial Group is 25.75%.  This relates to the LTD cost increasing from $2.680 to $3.370 per hundred for the coming year.  Even though CUPE 403’s LTD Plan has seen high usage over the past few years, the rate is well within line with other similar CUPE groups.  The overall increase was primarily due to a **Loss Ratio of over 201%.  The previous year the Loss Ratio was 209%.

Editor’s note: The above explanation was prepared by the local insurance broker.

* SSQ Financial Group: Is the carrier for the Local’s LTD plan.

** Loss ratio: The payout was higher than what is collected in premiums.