Critical Illness Insurance

What if your Health Takes an Unexpected Turn for the Worse?

What if you don't have Critical Illness insurance?

Critical Illness Insurance is designed to help cushion the financial blow from being unable to work, or facing a shortened life expectancy due to a diagnosed critical illness. Unlike life insurance, it provides coverage for current ongoing expenses. Critical Illness (CI) insurance provides a lump-sum benefit payable if you have been diagnosed with a critical illness, like heart attack, coronary bypass, stroke, and life-threatening cancer, among others. There is often a survival period (usually 30 days) that must be met first.

Why do you need it?

  • Our population is living longer with the average life expectancy now at 82.5 years.
  • Increasing health care costs, wait times, access to services
  • As medical technology improves, more and more people are living with cancer, or surviving for 20 or 30 years after having a heart attack or stroke.  However, these medical conditions often come with unexpected bills.

“But, that’s why we have Provincial Health insurance, right?”Providing financial security in uncertain times

While government health insurance covers the basic medical expenses that are associated with a critical illness, the fact remains that many illnesses will have other financial consequences that were not designed to be covered by Provincial Health plans.  Lost or any reduced income, private duty nursing, physical therapy, and any treatments that are not available locally are just a few of the unexpected costs associated with any critical illness. 

How does it work?

All critical illness policies cover "the big three": cancer, heart attack and stroke.  These are the most common serious medical conditions faced by older Canadian.  In addition, many critical illness policies cover up to 28 other common illnesses, such as blindness, deafness, organ transplants and Alzheimer's disease.  The more conditions that are covered, the higher the cost.  Coverage levels range from $10,000 to $1,000,000.

The cash benefit is paid to the Beneficiary, who can choose to spend it however they see fit. This tax-free lump sum could be used for specialized medical treatments or equipment, to pay household bills like your mortgage, to provide income if you or your spouse lose a paycheque, if you need to travel for treatment not available locally, or even for that “bucket list” vacation you always dreamed of taking!

There are two types of policies: temporary and permanent.  Temporary is designed to last for a specific period of time - usually 10 or 20 years or until retirement.  Often, this covers a period of time when a serious illness would pose an undue financial burden, such as when children are young.  Permanent insurance is of course designed to last for life.

Disability Insurance vs CI

Disability insurance is a monthly benefit designed to pay a portion of your income when you can not work; whereas, CI insurance is designed to pay a lump sum benefit. It is not tied to loss of income, nor is it tied to your recovery – you are still entitled to the benefit if you make a full recovery.

Simplified Critical Illness – does not require underwriting, therefore a simple application is all that is required to get coverage. 

You can get a quote for critical illness insurance using our quote engine on the right.