Karen O’Connell, Director, Governance & Plan Management, Benefits 360 Health & Welfare Trust at CADA, discusses some of the biggest changes to the CADA 360 program over the years, along with benefits for dealers and new developments, and what it means for the program to reach the 70-year milestone.
Arguably one of the most important programs offered by the Canadian Automobile Dealers Association (CADA), and which was created by dealers for dealers, celebrates its 70 anniversary this year.
CADA 360, an umbrella of unique benefit and insurance programs for dealers and their employees, was created as a not-for-profit trust run by a dealer committee, according to Karen O’Connell, Director, Governance & Plan Management, Benefits 360 Health & Welfare Trust at CADA.
In an interview with Canadian auto dealer, O’Connell said the committee is very conscientious about the fact that the program is “dealers for dealers,” and that “the money that comes in, in premium contributions, is there for the benefit of all plan members.”
“They look for opportunities to either improve benefits, or to keep costs down,” said O’Connell. “And managing those costs to keep premium rates affordable is very important to the committee, and it allowed us to be in a solid financial position this year when the pandemic hit.”
She said the committee was able to quickly come to a decision about what and how they would provide dealers with immediate relief — a decision that resulted in two months of premium credits for April and May. O’Connell said the prudent management of the plan allowed them to do this, which provided them with some leeway to understand the overall situation amid the crisis.
CADA 360 also decided to maintain the current rates, keeping them in place until June 2021, which in turn helped with budgeting and planning so dealers could avoid unknowns around premium rates. This, said O’Connell, is one of the benefits of being in a not-for-profit and “that whole philosophy of dealers for dealers” — the committee is always looking out for their fellow dealers.
O’Connell also talked about how the program has changed over the years, with some of the biggest developments occurring over the last decade. For example, how they manage the risk of the program is significantly different than it would have been in 1950.
“It’s really been the development in what’s been going on in pharmaceutical products. In 1950, it wasn’t fathomable that there would be a drug that cost more than $100,000, but today they are fairly commonplace,” said O’Connell. “Managing the risk under the program has been a very important goal to make sure that the program is there, when these new treatments do become available, that there are dollars there to fund them.”
CADA 360 also introduced a timely employee assistance program in 2019, considering the pandemic and subsequent lockdowns. And a new telemedicine service is being offered through CADA 360’s plan administrator (Canada Life) that dealers can add to the program.
It’s a time-saving app that allows users to connect and communicate with a nurse and doctor through text messaging, rather than dealing with the hassle of trying to book an appointment with a family doctor in a timely fashion — or a doctor at a public clinic.
Looking back on these developments, O’Connell said the 70-year milestone is a significant accomplishment for any program and that many associations will attempt to set up plans that often do not get the same traction that CADA has been able to achieve.
“The dealers are very loyal to the program and that gives us a strength in numbers,” said O’Connell. “With 70,000 plan members, that gives us a lot of leverage in the marketplace, and it spreads the cost over the greatest number.”
Hopefully, she said, the program will continue to serve dealers well into the future.
