3 things big insurers will never tell you…

Benefits are Broken

Traditional plans bundle routine spending into insurance — and your premiums climb every year because of it. Kibono separates the two.

▸ Watch · ~90 seconds

"What insurers don't want small businesses to understand."

Adam Niman·Co-Founder, Kibono
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The big lie

Most owners think benefits are insurance.
They're not.

Traditional plans bundle routine spending with insurance into a single inflated premium. Your employees can claim more than you pay in — so premiums rise every year.

⚠ The problem

Traditional benefits bundle routine spending with insurance.

You pay a fixed premium whether anyone claims or not. When claims rise, your premium rises with them — every renewal, every year.

  • Annual premium increases of 15–40%
  • Brokers and insurers in the middle
  • Routine claims drive premiums higher every renewal
✓ The Kibono way

Separate routine benefits from real insurance.

Routine spending runs through a Health Spending Account. Insurance stays optional and stand-alone. You only pay when claims happen.

  • Pay-per-claim: $2.25 + 5.25%
  • No claims = no fees
  • Same-day setup. No contract.
The traditional model in one line

Low claims? They keep the money. High claims? You fund the increase.

The analogy that changes everything

Would you buy grocery benefits?

Imagine an insurance company offered your business the following plan design for only $50/month per employee…

Grocery Services Plan — Premier Coverage

$50/month per employee
Coverage 100% reimbursement, no deductible
Annual Maximum $250 per benefit year for each category
Per item limit Reasonable and customary
Plan includes coverage for:
  • Dairy
  • Meat & Fish
  • Produce

On the surface, it sounds reasonable — especially if your advisor reassures you that rates are "locked in" for the first two years.

Wait — why wouldn't I just give my employees the $600 directly?

Exactly. Groceries are predictable, recurring expenses. They have no basis in insurance. Wrapping them in a "plan" doesn't reduce cost — it adds a middleman.

Now look at this

How is one any different from the other?

The grocery plan (absurd)

Grocery Services Plan

$50/mo per employee
Coverage 100%, no deductible
Annual Max $250 per category
Per item limit Reasonable and customary
Covered:
  • Dairy
  • Meat & Fish
  • Produce
$1,000/year exposure
for $600/year in premium
vs.
A real benefits plan (the same thing)

Paramedical Services

$150–$300/mo per employee
Real paramedical services benefits plan showing 100% coverage, $500 maximum per benefit year for each specialty, and a list of 13 covered practitioners including Acupuncturist, Audiologist, Chiropractor, Dietician, Massage therapist, Naturopath, Occupational therapist, Osteopath, Physiotherapist, Podiatrist, Psychologist, Speech therapist.
Single: $6,000/year exposure
Family of 5: $30,000/year exposure
for $1,800–$3,600/year in premium

The math doesn't math.

How it works

No premiums.
No middlemen. No surprises.

A direct alternative to traditional benefits — built for Canadian small businesses.

$0

Pay-per-claim

Low fee per claim. Zero claims, zero fees.

100%

100% tax-deductible

For your business. Tax-free for your employees.

No premiums

No annual premium increases. No renewal battles. Ever.

How Kibono structures benefits

Routine spending and catastrophic risk are two different things.

Traditional plans bundle them — which is why your premiums climb every year. Kibono prices each one for what it actually is.

Predictable spending

Routine benefits

Recurring. Predictable. Controllable.

Prescriptions, dental check-ups, physio, optical, massage, paramedical services.

→ Tool: Health Spending Account
Unpredictable risk

Real insurance

Rare. Severe. Genuinely unpredictable.

Life, disability, critical illness, catastrophic drug + hospital, emergency travel.

→ Tool: Stand-alone insurance

When routine claims stop flowing through your insurance, insurance premiums stabilize over time. Insurance gets priced on real risk — not on whether your team got their teeth cleaned this year.

Three ways to structure it

Insurance is optional. You choose what fits.

HSA only

Flexible, tax-efficient coverage — without the cost or complexity of insurance.

  • Pay-per-claim ($2.25 + 5.25%)
  • Any CRA-eligible medical expense
  • Same-day setup, no contract
Explore HSA only

Blended

HSA for routine spending, plus stand-alone insurance for catastrophic risk. Priced separately, never bundled.

  • Kibono HSA + targeted insurance
  • Insurance quoted independently
  • Routine claims don't affect premiums
See if it fits

Insurance only

If you already have an HSA or want stand-alone catastrophic coverage on its own.

  • Life + AD&D, disability, critical illness
  • Catastrophic drug + hospital
  • Emergency travel (60 days/trip)
Quote insurance only

Common strategy: many employers redirect part or all of what they previously paid in insurance premiums into the HSA — giving employees more flexible, tax-efficient coverage for the same total budget.

Optional. Quoted independently. Never bundled.

Real protection for real risk.

If you choose to add insurance, it covers what insurance was actually designed for — catastrophic, unpredictable events. Add only what you need.

Life + AD&D
Lump-sum payout to your beneficiary.
Dependant Life
Spouse & children can also be covered.
Disability
Short & long-term disability insurance to replace lost income.
Critical Illness
One-time lump sum payout if diagnosed with a serious illness.
Drugs
Catastrophic coverage, or a low-cap card to keep the HSA for everything else.
Hospital
Semi-private or private room coverage.
Travel
Covered for an unlimited number of trips, up to 60 days/trip.
EAP
Employee assistance plans and packages.
Group Investing Accounts
RSPs, TFSAs, and/or DPSPs to help your employees invest in their future.
Built by insiders

We saw the flaw.
So we built the fix.

Kibono was founded by industry veterans who got tired of explaining why traditional plans inflate — and built a direct alternative for Canadian small businesses.

Adam Niman
Adam Niman
Co-Founder & Chief Sales Officer
Justin Gravelle
Justin Gravelle
Co-Founder & CEO
15+
Years in benefits
50%
Average client savings
$0
Setup · contracts · paperwork
Before you book

Questions owners actually ask.

No. Insurance is optional and always quoted independently — never bundled. Run an HSA on its own, add stand-alone insurance for catastrophic risk, or keep what you have. You choose what fits.

The HSA is pay-per-claim: $2.25 + 5.25% per claim. No premiums, no setup fees, no contracts. If no one claims, you pay nothing.

Same-day. There's no contract to sign and no renewal cycle to wait for. Book a 10-minute call and we'll walk you through it.

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