The OLIP interns had the pleasure of meeting Kim Doran, Sarah Hobbs, and Margaret Campbell from the government relations team at the Canadian Health and Life Insurance Association (CHLIA). The CHLIA is a non-profit organization representing Canada’s health and life insurance providers at both the federal and provincial levels of government. CHLIA has been a long-time partner of OLIP, and it was fascinating to learn more about this area of finance and the policy issues it includes.
As one of the pillars of Canada’s financial system, health and life insurance plays a key role in the lives of many Canadians. The CHLIA works to build consensus among the providers of such insurance, and act as the industry’s voice to influence legislation. The range of policy issues touched by the CHLIA is broad, including the issues of opt-out enrollment in employer pension plans and global insurance harmonization. Our guests explained that one challenge in conducting government relations in this sector is the extended time horizons on matters of insurance which make legislative urgency difficult to achieve.
The meeting was timely as it followed the announcement of promises at the federal level regarding dental and pharma care. Our guests gave the insurance providers’ perspective of such policies.
We also had the opportunity to discuss how technology has changed the health and life insurance industry, with one of the recent developments being the use of artificial intelligence to detect insurance fraud more easily.
This meeting allowed us to dive into a topic that most of us knew little about. We came away with a better understanding of the health and life insurance industry and how it can provide expertise and insight into government policymaking. Thank you CHLIA and Mses. Doran, Hobbs, and Campbell for the great discussion and for your generous support of OLIP!