Federal employees held a rally Monday in -20 C temperatures to show how concerned they are about the problems with the government’s new health care coverage.

About a dozen people braved the weather to attend the noon event at the Elijah Smith Building.

It’s not the first time the federal civil servants have expressed their concerns across Canada.

Fewer than two months after Canada Life was introduced as the new contractor back in the summer, the grumbling began about the lack of customer service.

The transition from Sun Life went into effect last July 1.

CTV News was one of the media outlets documenting the issue.

Two months after the federal government switched insurance providers, many public servants say they are seeing an increase in out-of-pocket expenses instead of better benefits coverage.

According to the report, on July 1, an estimated 1.5 million federal employees were covered under the Public Service Health Care Plan.

The move, negotiated and announced last year, promised members better benefits and greater coverage for mental health services.

But dozens of members told CTV News that since the switch, their claims are going unprocessed. As well, their calls are going unanswered due to what has been described as overwhelmed call centres.

Similar sentiments were expressed during Monday’s rally in Whitehorse.

Teresa Acheson is the president of the Yukon Federation of Labour.

“You do deserve better,” Acheson thundered through the sound system. “Pay and benefits are essential employee services. You deserve better from our government.

“Tens of thousands of federal workers are experiencing major issues with their health care coverage under Canada Life and it’s having a real impact on our public service workers.”

When the coverage was announced last summer, Acheson said, the affected unions offered suggestions on how to make the transition smooth, including setting up a full-time call centre.

She said these suggestions weren’t introduced when the transition happened, and things have grown worse for federal employees.

“It’s the government’s responsibility to hold Canada Life responsible and find solutions,” Acheson said.

She mocked the Canada Life website, which features the promise of “health coverage when it matters.”

“Ohhhhhhhhhhhh,” Acheson growled. “It matters now. It mattered in July, in August, in September, in October, in November.

“The stories (of problems) abound,” she addded.

“Paying out of pocket, or worse, choosing to go without. This is just the transition period, so buckle up. Members can expect more changes to come. The federal government should be leading be example.

“There is a saying that actions speak louder than words,” Acheson said.

“We need more than words. We need action.”

Acheson said the first thing needing to be fixed is call centre wait times.

She gave an example of an employee she had spoken to who allegedly placed 30 calls in one day to Canada Life.

All went unanswered.

Acheson also said processing times must be improved, so people with urgent needs aren’t going without treatment.

“It’s basic customer service,” Acheson said.

“We’re standing here today for public servants who are broken. They are broken from the pandemic, from having to take extreme strike action, they are broken from not getting paid for their hours under Phenix.

“These mounting issues with Canada Life are adding insult to injury for our public sector workers.”

Acheson said the government needs to explain how it’s “botched” the implementation of another major system for public servants following the failure of its infamous new payroll software.

“We are simply asking for our promises to be fulfilled.”

Lisa Vollens, the vice-president of the Yukon Employees’ Union, said her members are experiencing problems with Canada Life.

Public employees shouldn’t have to wait for months, she said, or to choose between groceries and health treatment.

“It’s not fair and it’s not okay, and we stand in solidarity with you,” Vollens said.

Since July 1, Canada Life has not been able to keep up with the influx of more than 1.7 million new members, retirees, and dependents that they now administer to, the the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) said in a statement. 

Many are unable to reach customer service agents for help. They face long delays for their claims to be processed, and see their eligible claims denied, the PSAC said.

“Tens of thousands of our members across the country are struggling right now because of the Canada Life fiasco,” said Josée-Anne Spirito, Josee-Anne Spirito, the PSAC’s North Regional executive vice-president.

“They are cancelling vital medical services and paying huge amounts of money out of pocket for those services which they cannot go without.

“Among them is a single mother who has had to delay essential treatments costing thousands of dollars, and a woman who could not get medication for severe pain management, among many others.”

PSAC members “have had enough; the federal government must take action now,” Spirito added.

The PSAC is organizing rallies across the country calling on the federal government to resolve issues with Canada Life Insurance for federal public service workers, retirees and their families.

This week, workers are protesting outside the offices of MPs and Canada Life, and outside federal buildings to demand action from the government, “as they continue to mismanage providing critical benefits to workers who’ve already suffered eight years of Phoenix pay issues,” the PSAC said. 

“At the same time, Phoenix issues continue to haunt federal workers, with more than 242,000 pay issues still in the backlog.”

PSAC national president Chris Aylward weighed in on the situation Tuesday.

“This government clearly hasn’t learned the lessons from the Phoenix pay disaster,” he said in a statement.

“It is unacceptable that they have mismanaged such a vital service for workers who continue to be burned by Phoenix.

“I have heard horror stories from many of our members who have nowhere else to turn,” added Aylward.

“People with cancer who are fighting to get their life-saving medication covered when they never had any issues before. Workers who are going into debt because they’re paying out-of-pocket as they wait months for Canada Life to approve their claims.”

The federal government, Aylward said, “needs to hold Canada Life accountable to quickly hire and train staff to reduce wait times and work through the backlog of claims. Workers can’t afford another fiasco.”