Federal workers still struggling to access benefits after government changes to Canada Life

Issues with Canada Life benefit claims Many federal public servants say they are still facing issues accessing benefits from Canada Life. CTV's Dave Charbonneau reports.

Della Wilkinson, a retired federal employee, has spent numerous hours on the phone with Canada Life, a frustration shared by many former and current public servants.

Wilkinson, who has type one diabetes, now faces the burden of paying the full cost for some of her medications due to the transition to Canada Life.

"We were promised through a letter from Canada Life that this would be a seamless transition,” says Wilkinson. “It has been anything but seamless."

In July, the federal government's health plan, the largest in Canada, transitioned from Sun Life to Canada Life. This plan covers 1.7 million federal workers, retirees, and dependents. Despite promises of improvement, extended wait times remain.

Wilkinson says it's a challenge just to get a hold of anyone.

"You know, you phone, you're on the line for two hours before you even get speaking to somebody, and you just get cut off."

Chris Aylward, the National President of the Public Service Alliance of Canada, strongly criticized the situation.

"The whole situation that Canada Life has generated is just totally unacceptable," says Aylward. "Our members are fed up. They are completely disappointed with Canada Life. Things that should be allowable, Canada Life is saying are no longer allowable, which is not correct."

In response to these issues, a parliamentary committee has announced its intention to hold hearings on the problems stemming from the transition to Canada Life.

Canada Life issued a statement to CTV News, acknowledging the challenges.

“Every customer under this plan should be able to access to their benefits and we're committed to approving every eligible claim. While a vast majority of customers continue to access their benefits without issue, we recognize that some are experiencing difficulty, leading to high call volumes and wait times. That is why we're implementing a Customer Service Action Plan to help reduce wait times and accelerate claims reviews.”

Canada Life says it is doubling the size of their call centre staff in order to deal with the volume of calls. It hopes to have wait times down to less than 10 minutes by December. Canada Life also says right now more than 90 per cent of claims are paid in less than five days.

Despite these efforts, Della Wilkinson is still awaiting claims she submitted in July, and it's impacting her daily life.

"This insulin pump allowed me to live a normal life. Canada Life has put me back in a box again, and it makes me feel like I don't fit."