Life Insurance
Your Alberta School Employee Benefit Plan (ASEBP) Life Insurance benefits are in force at all times, anywhere in the world. Here are the basic criteria for life insurance:
- Effective only while you’re working for an employer with ASEBP benefits or are enrolled in ASEBP Early Retirement, MyRetiree Plan, Supplemental Package or School Trustee benefits
- Available only to you, the covered member (dependants, including a spouse, are not covered)
- Has no cash value outside of the payable amount when you pass away (e.g. cannot be used as security for a loan)
You can find your plan number on My ASEBP or the My ASEBP Mobile App.
Note that the following is a comprehensive summary of the official, legally binding ASEBP insurance policies and plan documents, which are available through your employer or by contacting us.
What's covered?
Life Insurance (Employees Actively at Work)
The amount of life insurance paid is based on two times your annual earnings and is payable to your designated beneficiary or your estate. This includes salary, administrative allowances, isolation pay, vacation pay, retroactive salary and compensation for an acting assignment longer than three months. Note that annual earnings don’t include car allowances, early retirement incentives, expense allowances or reimbursements, overtime, pay in lieu of vacation, salary from teaching night or summer school classes or signing bonuses.
At age 70, your benefits will automatically end on either June 30 following your 70th birthday or, if you’re a trustee, the end of the month in which you turn 70.
| Plan 2 |
|---|
| Two times your annual earnings to a maximum of $800,000 (tax-free) |
Life Insurance (Supplemental Package Participants and School Trustees)
The amount of life insurance that will be paid is a lump sum of your choice and is payable to your designated beneficiary or your estate.
| Plan 2 | Plan 4 |
|---|---|
| Your choice of $25,000 or $50,000 (tax-free) | An additional $25,000 (tax-free and on top of your Plan 2 coverage) is available to school trustees, if all trustees in your school jurisdiction decide to participate. Please contact your employer for more information. |
Life Insurance (Early Retirement)
The amount of life insurance that will be paid is based on your annual earnings at the time of your retirement and is payable to your designated beneficiary or your estate. This includes salary, administrative allowances, isolation pay, vacation pay, retroactive salary and compensation for an acting assignment longer than three months. Note that annual earnings do not include car allowances, early retirement incentives, expense allowances or reimbursements, overtime, pay in lieu of vacation, salary from teaching night or summer school classes or signing bonuses.
| Plan 2 | Plan 3 |
|---|---|
| Two times your annual earnings to a maximum of $800,000 (tax-free) | $25,000 (tax-free) if you retired before September 1, 2011, and were enrolled in Early Retirement Package 2 |
Life Insurance (MyRetiree Plan)
Visit MyRetiree Plan for more information.
Advance Payment to Beneficiary
If your beneficiary is facing financial difficulties (e.g. paying for funeral expenses), they may be eligible for an advance payment of part of your life insurance amount immediately after you pass away. Your beneficiary can contact your employer if you were actively working when you passed away, otherwise they can contact ASEBP for more information.
| Plan 2 | Plan 3 |
|---|---|
| Maximum of $10,000 (tax-free) | Maximum of $10,000 (tax-free) |
Terminal Illness Advance Payment
If you’re terminally ill and not expected to live for more than 12 months, you can request an advance payment of your life insurance amount. This advance partial payment is made to you, not your beneficiary. Please contact your employer if you’re actively working, otherwise contact ASEBP for more information.
| Plan 2 | Plan 3 |
|---|---|
| Up to 50% of your life insurance amount, to a maximum of $50,000 (tax-free) | Up to 50% of your life insurance amount, to a maximum of $12,500 (tax-free) |
Resources
What's not covered?
Your life insurance will not be paid if your death results from:
- Active duty in any military or peacekeeping force
- Active participation in a war or act of war (declared or not)
Additional Information
Beneficiaries
The beneficiary(ies) you choose is the only person eligible to receive your life insurance amount when you pass away. See Managing Beneficiaries for details.
Converting ASEBP Life Insurance to an Individual Insurance Policy
When your ASEBP Life Insurance ends, you have the option to convert part or all of your group life insurance policy to an individual policy with Canada Life Assurance Company (Canada Life).
You must apply within 31 days of your coverage ending to avoid having to provide evidence of your good health; however, providing evidence of good health may help reduce your premium.
You also have the option to enrol in a smaller individual life insurance policy with Canada Life rather than converting your group life insurance policy. If you choose to do this, evidence of good health may be required. If you're deemed ineligible due to the medical information provided, you can still convert your group policy to an individual policy without evidence of good health.
Important Notes
Here’s some important information for you to know:
- Converting your group life insurance policy to an individual policy can be expensive. For the same amount of coverage you received through your ASEBP Life Insurance, an individual policy is typically much more expensive than the premiums you were paying with ASEBP.
- To convert your ASEBP Life Insurance to an individual life policy, a Group Life Insurance Conversion Notice will need to be submitted to Canada Life on your behalf within 31 days of coverage ending. If you're actively working, please contact your employer to let them know you're interested in converting your policy and they'll complete this form for you. If you're not actively at work, please contact us.
- Once you have received your copy of the completed notice in the mail—you should contact Canada Life directly at 1-888-252-1847, quoting your ASEBP policy number 138400GL.
- If you pass away during the 31-day period after your ASEBP Life Insurance termination date, your beneficiary will receive the full amount of your ASEBP Life Insurance, whether or not you had applied to convert to an individual life policy.
Life Insurance Past Age 65
If you continue to work after age 65, your benefits can be extended up to the end of the school year (June 30), following your 70th birthday as long as you remain actively at work. This means if you turn 70 on June 29, your benefits will remain active for one day, until June 30. If you turn 70 on July 1, your benefits will remain active for approximately one year, until June 30.
Please review the Important Notes in the Converting ASEBP Group Life Insurance Policy to an Individual Insurance Policy section for more information about converting your policy.
Serious Injury or Death
If you pass away or you're involved in an accident that leaves you seriously injured, find out what your beneficiary should do.
Spending Accounts
Your Spending Accounts are cancelled on the date of your death and no further credits are allocated after that date. Your dependants or beneficiaries will have 60 days to submit eligible expenses you or they incurred before your death (ASEBP can help if your My ASEBP password is unknown to your dependants or beneficiaries). After that time, any unused credits will be forfeited back to your employer.
Temporary Coverage for Surviving Family
When you pass away, ASEBP offers the health, dental and/or vision benefits you had in place at the time of your passing to your dependants, including your spouse, on a premium-free basis until the earliest of the following:
- One year after you pass away
- The date your spouse remarries
- The date your spouse passes away (if your spouse was your only dependant)
- The date your dependent child(ren) is no longer eligible or passes away if your child(ren) was your only dependant (see Managing Dependants for details)
Your employer will most often notify us of your death. If you have family coverage at the time of your death, upon receipt of the death certificate, we will begin the process of notifying your eligible dependants of this temporary benefit coverage. If you’re not actively working when you pass away, your dependants must contact us for more information.
Surviving dependants of MyRetiree Plan members aren’t eligible for free premiums. Visit MyRetiree Plan for more information about this plan’s Life Insurance.