Carl Laflamme has been appointed senior account executive with the Ontario Teachers Insurance Plan (OTIP).
A few days into his new role, Laflamme told the Insurance Portal that he will be responsible for Ontario's francophone school boards, which are concentrated in the Ottawa region.
OTIP covers a total of about 140,000 Ontario teachers. It offers full coverage including drug, dental, and short- and long-term disability insurance.
28 years with SSQ
Laflamme left La Capitale Insurance following its merger with SSQ Insurance in July 2020. He had been serving as Vice-President Sales, Group Insurance at La Capitale for the past two years.
Laflamme worked at SSQ for nearly 28 years, holding several management positions including Senior Vice-President, Distribution, followed by Vice-President, Strategic Alliances, the position he left when he joined La Capitale in 2018.
At La Capitale, he also acted as an advisor to Mario Albert, who retired when the company merged with SSQ. Both Albert and Laflamme worked on La Capitale’s major digital transformation.
New context same issues
Despite the move from an insurer to manager of a single plan for educators, the issues Laflamme is facing are strikingly similar. The change of province and even the pandemic have not changed his role significantly either. "New biologic drugs remain an important issue. A plan such as OTIP has the same drug cost and disability control issues as its counterparts like the Centrale des syndicats du Québec (CSQ)," Carl Laflamme says.
The COVID-19 crisis is having a similar impact in Ontario as Quebec. "Masks in schools, distancing, and parental concerns are also concerns in Ontario. We are going through difficult times. Schools are staying open and some are seeing outbreaks. Teacher stress levels are rising in a sector where disability due to mental health issues is becoming more frequent," says Laflamme.
Pandemic impact over time
COVID-19 did not cause a spike in long-term disability claims, as the industry anticipated, Laflamme adds. "The big issue has been travel insurance and its cancellation guarantee: who will be the first payer between the insurer and the travel agency, for example. We expected a lot of business closures, bad debts and the inability to pay group insurance premiums, but that didn't happen.”
Instead, many workers have taken short-term disability leave due to COVID-19, he adds. On the plus side, the pandemic has resulted in fewer claims in travel, dental and paramedical insurance. "We didn't see a lot of disability in the second or third quarter of 2020. But what's most important is what will happen in the months ahead and after COVID-19, that is the longer-term effects on disability." Laflamme predicts that these effects will be partly financial, including the loss of a spouse's job.
