Understanding Assuris and Its Role in Insurance

Assuris is a not-for-profit organization that plays a crucial role in the Canadian insurance industry. It was established in 2002 to protect policyholders in the event of an insurance company's insolvency.

Assuris is funded by the insurance industry and has a fund of over $1 billion to cover potential claims. This fund is separate from the assets of individual insurance companies.

In the event of an insurance company's insolvency, Assuris takes over the company's policies and ensures that policyholders continue to receive coverage.

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Assuris is a not-for-profit organization formed in 1990 to protect policyholders if an insurance company fails.

It has strict capital requirements and regulated investment options, ensuring they have enough money to pay claims. This low-risk exposure doesn't guarantee insurance companies can't fail, though.

Similar to the Canadian Deposit Insurance Corporation (CDIC), which protects consumers' deposits held at banks, Assuris does the same for policyholders of insurance contracts.

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Assuris guarantees that policyholders won't receive less than 85% of their promised benefits from the insurance company if it goes belly up. This protection is offered at no extra cost to policyholders.

Since Assuris is completed funded by insurance companies, you don't have to pay a thing for this extra layer of security. In fact, there have only been 4 insolvencies of insurance companies since Assuris came into existence in 1990.

If an insurance company becomes insolvent, Assuris will try to transfer your policy to another insurance company so that your coverage continues uninterrupted. If that's not possible, it will pay out the guarantees.

There are five categories of protection depending on the type of policy you have: death benefit, health expense, monthly income, cash value, and accumulated value. Here's a breakdown of the guarantees and limits provided under each category:

Assuris is a safety net that guarantees policyholders won't receive less than 85% of their promised benefits if an insurance company goes belly up. This protection doesn't come at an extra cost for policyholders.

Since Assuris came into existence in 1990, there have only been 4 insolvencies of insurance companies. This shows how rare it is for an insurance company to fail.

In the unlikely event of an insurance company insolvency, Assuris will try to transfer your policy to another insurance company so that your coverage continues uninterrupted. If that's not possible, it will pay out the guarantees.

There are five categories of protection depending on the type of policy you have: death benefit, health expense, monthly income, cash value, and accumulated value.

Assuris guarantees that policyholders won't receive less than 85% of their promised benefits from the insurance company if it goes belly up. This protection applies to life insurance policies, with some exceptions for policies with a payout of $200,000 or less, which will retain the full death benefit.

In the unlikely event that an insurance company becomes insolvent, Assuris will try to transfer your policy to another insurance company so that your coverage continues uninterrupted.

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There are only three insurers that have failed since Assuris came into existence, and it has protected the financial wellbeing of roughly three million policyholders.

Assuris provides protection for various types of policies, including death benefits, health expenses, monthly income, cash value, and accumulated value.

Here are the types of protection offered by Assuris:

Assuris has upgraded its protection levels for group annuities, with improved protection for monthly pensions above $2,000. The new protection levels are as follows:

Assuris covers a wide range of insurance products, including life, health, critical illness, disability, long-term care, and wealth management policies issued by life insurance companies.

These products can include annuities, segregated funds, RRSPs, RRIFs, TFSAs, and group pension plans.

Assuris provides 100% coverage of benefits within specified limits.

Your income is 100% protected up to $5,000 per month with each insurance company, and 90% of the payment amount, whichever is greater.

If your payment is under $5,000 per month, you would retain 100% of your payment in the event that the insurance company becomes insolvent.

For payments over $5,000 per month, you would retain 90% of your payment, or $5,000, whichever is greater.

Here's a breakdown of the protection limits:

Note that these protection levels have been updated to 90% for payments between $2,000 and $5,000, and 100% for payments over $5,000, as of May 25, 2023.

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Assuris covers a wide range of insurance products, including life, health, critical illness, disability, long-term care, and wealth management policies issued by life insurance companies.

These products can include annuities, segregated funds, and RRSPs, RRIFs, TFSAs, and group pension plans. If you're in the market for a product sold by a life insurance company, you can check the list of companies that are members of Assuris on their website.

Assuris covers just about every type of product that life insurance companies sell, so it's worth taking a look at the list of covered products to see if your specific needs are met.

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