Ascent Insurance is an independent group benefits advisor based in downtown Vancouver. We design, market and manage employee benefits programs for British Columbia businesses — from three-person startups to established firms with hundreds of employees on the plan.
A group benefits plan is one of the few investments that shows up in recruiting, retention and day-to-day morale at the same time. In a Vancouver labour market where salary alone rarely wins a candidate, the quality of your health, dental and disability coverage is often what decides whether someone accepts your offer or a competitor's.
Most of the plans we are asked to review were not designed badly. They were designed years ago, for a smaller company, and never revisited. Maximums that were generous in 2018 no longer cover a course of physiotherapy. Drug plans carry costs that a dispensing-fee cap would remove. Premium creeps upward at each renewal because nobody has asked the insurer to justify it.
Our work is to close that gap: understand what your organization is actually trying to achieve, take your group to the Canadian carrier market, and build a program that delivers the most comprehensive coverage your budget will support — then keep it that way.
Group Benefits Vancouver is the group employee benefits practice of Ascent Insurance Services Inc. — the same Vancouver advisory team, focused specifically on workplace benefits plans. Licensed in British Columbia and working with employers across most of Canada.
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Every benefit below can be included, adjusted or left out. We build the package around your organization and your budget rather than fitting you into a pre-set tier.
Prescription drug coverage, paramedical practitioners such as physiotherapy, massage and chiropractic care, vision care, medical supplies and equipment, private-duty nursing, and out-of-country emergency travel. This is the part of the plan your employees use most, and the part that shapes how the plan is judged.
Preventive cleanings and exams, basic restorative work such as fillings and extractions, major services including crowns and bridgework, and optional orthodontic coverage for employees and their dependants. Coinsurance levels and annual maximums are set to match your budget.
Income replacement that keeps a salary flowing when an employee cannot work because of illness or injury. Short term disability bridges the first weeks; long term disability protects against the claims that last years. Correctly structured, it also protects the business from carrying an absent salary.
Employer-paid life coverage, usually set as a flat amount or a multiple of earnings, with optional dependant life and employee-paid top-ups. It is the least-used benefit in any plan and the one families remember.
A tax-free lump sum on diagnosis of a covered condition such as cancer, heart attack or stroke — money employees can spend on treatment, travel, mortgage payments or simply time away from work while they recover.
AD&D pays an additional benefit for accidental loss of life, limb or sight. It is inexpensive to add and is frequently bundled alongside group life to broaden protection without meaningfully changing the premium.
Health spending accounts, personal wellness accounts and employee assistance programs give staff flexible dollars to spend on what they actually need — while giving you a predictable, capped cost instead of an open-ended one.
A structured process, typically three to six weeks from start to effective date, with no cost and no obligation until you decide to proceed.
We start with your team, not a product. Headcount, demographics, turnover, what you are paying now, what employees complain about, and what you are trying to achieve — whether that is recruiting against larger competitors or bringing a renewal back under control.
We take your census to the Canadian carrier market — major insurers and smaller niche providers alike — and gather competing quotes. Because we are independent, no carrier gets preferential treatment and every proposal is compared on the same terms.
You receive a side-by-side comparison in plain language: what each option covers, what it costs, where the trade-offs sit, and which one we recommend and why. You make the decision with the full picture in front of you.
We handle enrolment, employee communication and booklet distribution, then stay on as your service team — claims questions, additions and terminations, and an annual renewal review that challenges the insurer's numbers rather than forwarding them to you.
Group benefits are priced per employee per month, and that number is built from a handful of inputs. Understanding them is the difference between accepting a renewal and negotiating one.
At renewal we review the claims data behind the insurer's proposed increase, test the assumptions, model design changes that protect coverage while reducing cost, and market the group competitively when the incumbent will not move. A renewal letter is an opening position, not a conclusion.
Read the full renewal guide →Send us your current booklet and most recent renewal. We will benchmark your rates and coverage against the market and tell you plainly whether you are being treated fairly — at no cost, and with no expectation that you switch.
No obligation. Our advisors typically respond within one business day.
Straight answers to the questions Vancouver business owners and HR managers ask us most often.
Still deciding? Speak with a Vancouver group benefits advisor — the first conversation is free and there is no obligation to proceed.