insurance complaints – OLHI – Free, impartial help with your life & health insurance complaints

What is an ombudsman? What is alternative dispute resolution (ADR)?

Posted on: November 26, 2021

Our Ombudsman is head of the OmbudService for Life and Health Insurance (OLHI). OLHI offers an alternative dispute resolution public service that is free, bilingual, independent and impartial to Canadians with life and health insurance.

Sounds great so far, right? But what is an ombudsman or an ombudservice? How does alternative dispute resolution (ADR) work?

More importantly, how can an ombudsman or ADR help you?

Ombudsman: A brief history

More than 200 years ago, Sweden appointed the first Ombudsman to resolve complex problems when the King was away. The term “ombudsman” originates from “ombuds” (umboðsmaðr), which means “proxy agent” or “representative” in Old Norse.

Today, there are ombudservice offices for governments, organizations, and financial institutions across the globe.

Did You Know?

Over 100 countries are members of the International Ombudsman Institute.

What does an Ombudsman do?

An ombudsman can review complaints from the public about government, organizations, or financial institutions. An ombudsman’s goal is to help both sides come to a resolution via mutual agreement.

A mediator helping a consumer and an insurance company representative come to an agreement. — An ombudsman’s goal is to help both sides come to a resolution via mutual agreement.

Canadian life and health insurance consumers can submit a complaint to us if they feel dissatisfied with their insurer’s final position on a policy.

See our Complaints process >>

If your complaint is reviewable, we can review your policy outcome. If it has merit, OLHI can offer a non-binding recommendation to your insurance company.

Note: an Ombudsman is impartial.

An ombudsman is impartial, so they don’t represent the consumer or the organization, which in the case of OLHI, helps build confidence in Canada’s life and health insurance sector.

According to the International Network of Financial Services Ombudsman Schemes, the hallmark of an ombudsman is a “free, independent, impartial, fair, timely, efficient and informal alternative dispute resolution process.”

Alternative Dispute Resolution in a nutshell

At its core, Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) is about finding fair resolutions to disputes outside the courts.

In other words, say you have a complaint with your life or health insurance provider, ADR may help solve your problem without expensive, lengthy, and adversarial litigation.

Benefits of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR)

Consider the benefits of ADR; you may thank yourself later. Alternative Dispute Resolution is:

Confidential—ombudservices have strict privacy policies and cannot share your information with anyone
Far more flexible than court proceedings
More cost-effective than litigation—it’s a free service to the public
Can offer resolution faster than litigation
Applicable over multiple jurisdictions (e.g., provinces, countries) at once, thereby evading a substantial time commitment to several lawsuits

How can an Ombudsman help me?

The OmbudService for Life and Health Insurance (OLHI) provides an impartial, independent, bilingual, and free ADR public service to the 29 million Canadians with life and health insurance.

Our public service can also guide consumers through the complaints process and answer their questions. We can also help them find lost policies or policies of deceased loved ones.

How we can help >>

New partnership between OLHI and Quebec Cancer Foundation in support of health rights and critical illness insurance for people facing cancer

Posted on: November 25, 2021

We are proud to announce our partnership with the Quebec Cancer Foundation (QCF). This strategic alliance will make it possible to enhance the daily well-being and financial security of people with cancer and their loved ones.

For over 40 years, the Quebec Cancer Foundation has been adapting its approach and finding new and innovative ways of providing services designed to best meet the needs of people with cancer and their loved ones. The QCF is extremely proud of this recent partnership with OLHI, a collaboration that will allow the Foundation to transform the landscape of healthcare in terms of support services once again.

OLHI is a non-profit organization that offers an alternative dispute resolution public service for life and health insurance consumers in Canada. This free and bilingual service will enable the Quebec Cancer Foundation’s beneficiaries and their loved ones to get access to help and information on dispute resolution in consumer insurance matters.

“People facing cancer must not only contend with medical challenges, as financial issues are generally also a major impediment,” notes Mr. Marco Décelles, General Director of the Quebec Cancer Foundation. “I truly believe that this partnership with OLHI will significantly impact everyone who attempts to exercise their rights with regard to critical illness insurance. Through this collaboration, we will be able to better support the physical, mental and financial well-being of an even greater number of cancer patients, survivors and loved ones.”

For Stéphanie Robillard, OLHI’s Acting Senior Deputy Ombudsman and conciliator, this partnership with the Quebec Cancer Foundation was a natural. “During the course of Financial Literacy Month, OLHI chose to partner with the Quebec Cancer Foundation because it’s the only organization that helps and supports people diagnosed with cancer, regardless of type of disease, age or origin, and this throughout Quebec: in other words, it provides accessible, inclusive and effective assistance to all Quebecers. Both of our organizations are part of a movement focused on the overall health and financial security of people facing cancer.”

The Anatomy of a Final Position Letter: What to Expect From Your Life or Health Insurance Provider

Posted on: November 19, 2021

A final position letter is a written decision from a life or health insurance company that outlines its final position about a consumer claim.

Here’s what you can expect to see in a final position letter ↓

View the full image >>

All insurance companies have an internal complaints process, which you must follow to obtain a Final Position Letter from your insurer before you bring your complaint to us at the OmbudService for Life and Health Insurance (OLHI).

Once you have received a Final Position Letter, you can submit your complaint to us.

Got your Final Position Letter? Here’s the next step:

Once you have received a Final Position Letter from your life or health insurance provider, you can submit a complaint to our ombudservice.

If your complaint is reviewable and has merit, we can provide another impartial review of your insurer’s final position on a health or life insurance claim.

Take a few minutes to learn more about our complaints process so you know what to expect:

See the full complaints process >>

Edmonton office helping Canadians with insurance complaints – Edmonton Journal

Posted on: October 12, 2017

OLHI has opened an Edmonton office in hopes of raising its profile with Western Canadians. Read the story in the Edmonton Journal.

OLHI reports on record numbers

Posted on: September 19, 2017

OLHI held its annual general meeting and released its annual report for 2016/17, reporting on a year of record numbers and renewed priorities.

Highlights:

Complaint volumes increase by 23.2% across Canada, marking a historic high
Increase in complaints from Quebec (+36.2%), Prairie provinces (+25.6%) and British Columbia (+ 24.4%)
Public contacts exceed 87,000
Edmonton office established as a part of western expansion strategy

Read the news release.