CRITICAL ILLNESS INSURANCE

    Critical illness insurance or CI for short has become increasingly popular over the past decade and rightly so. Cancer, heart attacks and strokes have become more common in adults over the years and CI can help protect you against the financial strains that come along with being diagnosed with one of these illnesses.

    The Benefit

    Unlike other forms of insurance, you don’t have to pass away from an illness to collect the proceeds. The benefits of a CI policy are paid to you or your spouse directly and the proceeds are tax-free.

    The benefit amount can range quite drastically depending on who you are placing the critical illness policy on. $50,000 or $100,000 may be common for some, however, CI policies can get into the millions when you are protecting a business from losing one of its key employees or executives. I’m this case the proceeds would be paid to the employer directly and the company would receive the proceeds tax-free.

    What’s Covered Under CI

    • Cancer
    • Heart attack
    • Stroke
    • Coronary bypass surgery 

    As mentioned there are several conditions in addition to these four that can be found in CI policies. As a Canadian, you have a 40% chance of being diagnosed with cancer at some time in your life.