Critical Illness

Critical illness coverage can be used for personal protection or to protect your business.

From a personal standpoint, coverage gives you access to “best doctors care” where you can get second medical opinions. It also provides a lump sum payment if you survive for 31 days, to be used as you see fit. This may include expedited medical treatment or time off work after medical procedures.

From a business standpoint, it may ensure the successful continuation of your company. What would happen if you as an owner or a key person in your company suffered a severe medical condition such as cancer, heart attack or stroke? Proceeds can be used by the business any way, such as to offset decreases in revenue resulting from lost productivity or to cover the expense of finding and hiring a replacement.

Facts: Unfortunately it’s a risk that you must consider.

Just look at the following statistics:

· One out of four Canadians will develop heart disease.
· One out of three people will develop some type of cancer.
· About half of all heart attacks happen to people during their working years.
· On average, a stroke occurs every ten minutes in Canada.

Critical illness policies from different insurers vary in the conditions that they cover. All cover the following four conditions:

· Cancer
· Heart attack
· Stroke
· Coronary artery bypass surgery

Most of the comprehensive critical illness policies also cover the following conditions, although there may be differences from insurer to insurer:

· Kidney failure
· Major organ transplant
· Blindness
· Deafness
· Loss of speech
· Paralysis
· Multiple sclerosis
· Coma
· Parkinson’s disease
· Alzheimer’s disease
· Loss of limbs
· Severe burns
· Occupational HIV infection
· Motor neuron disease
· Benign brain tumour
· Aorta surgery
· Heart valve replacement

In addition, many policies offer a variety of useful features and options, including:

 A reimbursement of the premiums paid if a critical illness benefit has not been paid out after a specified number of years.

 A refund of premiums to the business if the insured passes away without ever being entitled to the critical illness insurance benefit.

 Conversion of your critical illness coverage to long term care coverage at certain ages.

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