Critical Illness Insurance
No one wants to believe that they will develop a critical illness that will prevent them from paying their bills. But let’s face it – anything can happen. That is why having plans in place, such as critical illness insurance, can help with your risk management planning. Critical Illness insurance allows you to avoid spending your retirement savings or liquidate investments in the event of a medical issue.
What's Covered
Illnesses covered are typically 4 or 25 (higher price for covering 25 illnesses). The most common covered critical illnesses include:
- Cancer
- Stroke
- Heart Attack
- Coronary Bypass Surgery
However, many critical illness insurance policies also cover a range of less common conditions, such as:
- Alzheimer’s disease
- Aortic surgery
- Aplastic anaemia
- Bacterial meningitis
- Benign brain tumour
- Blindness
- Cancer (life-threatening)
- Coma
- Coronary artery- bypass surgery
- Deafness
- Heart attack
- Heart valve replacement
- Kidney failure
- Loss of independent existence
- Loss of limbs
- Loss of speech
- Major organ transplant
- Major organ failure on waiting list
- Motor neuron disease
- Multiple sclerosis
- Occupational HIV infection
- Paralysis
- Parkinson’s disease
- Severe burns
- Stroke (Cerebrovascular accident)
Critical illness products offered in Canada
There are different types of critical illness products available in Canada. Some plans cover only a handful of conditions, while some others cover as many as 25 illnesses. You can buy a policy that pays out as little as $20K or as much as $2 million. You can opt for temporary coverage or a permanent one.
Life insurance providers in Canada offer critical illness policies in the following increments:
- Critical Illness 10 Year Term
- Critical Illness 20 Year Term
- Term to Age 65
- Term to Age 5
- Critical Illness Term to Age 100 (permanent)
Benefits of critical illness insurance
A critical illness can threaten much more than your health. It can drain your life savings or, worse, push you into bankruptcy.
Unexpected medical expenses can put a lot of strain on your finances. Even with a health insurance policy, the out-of-pocket costs and other expenses can make a dent in your life savings. That’s when a critical illness insurance policy can come into play. It helps you whether a crisis without exhausting your emergency fund and other savings.
If you get diagnosed with a covered critical illness, the insurer pays you a lump-sum amount, to use however you want.
