Trend factors

Trend factors reflect the increasing cost of products and services covered under the plan. Some contributing factors used to calculate the Health and Dental rates for the upcoming renewal period include:

• Standard inflation
• Increased utilization of Health and Dental services
• Cost-shifting from provincial medical plans to private plans
• Increased cost of new drugs entering the market
• Adjustments to the Dental provincial fee guide

Trend factors are typically calculated at the block level, rather than at the group level, and applied consistently across all groups within the insurance carrier’s entire block of business.

Insurance companies use midpoint-to-midpoint trend rather than an annual trend to calculate the renewal.

Trend factors is 1 of 7 factors that influence group benefit rate adjustments.