Gary Sawatzky, Chief Operating Officer, ARTA
ARTA recently conducted an opinion survey to better understand member sentiment toward the services ARTA provides, including the ARTA Benefit Plans. In the survey, we asked plan participants to provide their opinion of the plans — both as they exist today, and with potential changes. Part of the survey goal was to determine whether the plan design is aligned with current needs of plan participants and to gather input to determine the future direction of the program. ARTA also asked for opinions regarding the services members receive from ARTA as the plan administrator, from our claims adjudicator, and from our emergency travel assistance service provider.
The response rate of the survey was favourable — almost 5,500 plan members (of approximately 30,000 invitees) responded to the survey, and the demographics of these respondents closely matched ARTA’s overall member demographics, indicating a comparable dataset. Below are some of the results, for readers interested in what the survey revealed.
Primary Residence
ARTA Membership Sector
Age of Respondents
Plan Coverage
Overall Rating of the ARTA Benefit Plans
Most Important Benefit Components According to Members
Given the current inflationary pressures that have been affecting monthly premium rates, ARTA asked for covered members’ opinions as to how the Health Benefits Committee and Board of Directors should respond to those pressures. Here is what members suggested:
ARTA began to self-administer the Benefit Plans in 2021, so we were very interested in hearing our covered members’ opinions on how we are doing, and the results were very positive. A combined 92% of the respondents were either satisfied (33.2%) or very satisfied (58.8%) with the service they received from ARTA’s plan administration team. A small number (5.7%) of the respondents did not have an opinion.
When asked for their experience working with GreenShield (the benefit plan’s claims adjudicator), Beneva (the Emergency Travel underwriter), and AXA Assistance (the travel assistance provider), we were pleased to hear that covered members had predominantly positive experiences with our contracted service providers.
Finally, we were pleased to find a positive reception to our claims process, which we have been refining over the last few years:
ARTA thanks all of our members who took the time to provide their opinion of the current benefit plans. Your input is invaluable to the Health Benefits Committee and Board of Directors when determining the best direction to take when reviewing plan design. While the survey results presented here are on the ARTA Benefit Plans, visit bit.ly/ARTASurvey2025 to view more results on the ARTA Member survey.
After working in group benefits consulting for twenty years, Gary joined ARTA to serve as Chief Operating Officer in November 2017. Gary has his certified Employee Benefits Specialist designation.