If you were to have a heart attack, a stroke, or diagnosed with cancer last night, what would you be worrying about this morning? Even though our chances of surviving a serious illness have improved significantly over the past 50 years, lengthy treatments, periods of disability, and additional expenses associated with illnesses can present a financial burden for an affected person and their family
Critical illness insurance benefits are paid as a lump sum and can be used at your discretion. Most often, we see clients using the money to pay for out-of-pocket expenses like co-payment amounts, prescriptions, and treatments. But critical illness insurance benefits are also important to offset hidden indirect costs such as child care expenses, loss of income (whether or not disability insurance is being collected), and travel costs.
Many critical illness insurance policies include coverage for second opinion services like Best Doctors, which provide peace of mind, access to clinical trials not available through provincial plans, or even alternative diagnoses and treatment protocols.
Having an alternative source of funds available so that you don’t have to pull money out of your retirement savings to deal with recovery from a serious illness or launch a go-fund-me page allows people to focus on healing instead of worrying about preserving retirement funds.
In the Canadian marketplace, there are critical illness insurance policies that can be obtained – even if you have already been diagnosed with a covered condition. While exclusions or pre-existing condition limitations may apply, it may be worth investigating what coverage you could obtain.
Talk to us today about how critical illness insurance fits into your risk management portfolio.