The Role of Olympia Trust
Olympia Trust Company is the only Trust Institution in Canada administering PHSPs and we have done so for over eight years now. Our original focus was on small groups with less than six employees. Throughout the years, we have accumulated both a large number of Plan members (about 45,000), and a great deal of experience. We certainly know what it takes to run these Plans properly – onside with CRA and also service-efficient with members. Our infrastructure has required hundreds of thousands of dollars, both for software and human resources. Currently, we employ an in-house software specialist to help us run our computer system day-in and day-out to constantly evolve systems to adapt to the changing demands of our clients. This attention to detail has allowed us to maintain a forty-eight hour turnaround for claims in an environment with an average of $2 million in claims a month and 40% growth each year.
Although our market niche originated with small groups, in the past few years we have administered Plans for an increasing number of larger groups. We have the infrastructure to administer large groups and intend to actively pursue that market segment using necessary refinements as needed.
Olympia Trust Company’s PHSP approach to Group Extended Health and Dental Care is in the vanguard of Twenty First Century employee benefits. It is a principle of both physics and of economics that nature follows the optimal path. Translated into financial terms – that means that if a product is truly cost-effective as well as practical, it will win the market!
Several indicators show that this “new wave” has begun: our American cousins, in their large corporations, have wholeheartedly accepted self-insurance. In Canada, rapidly escalating premiums are driving employers to look for alternatives to protect their bottom line.