What is Critical Illness Insurance?

Nowadays, people survive serious medical issues such as cancer, a heart attack, or a stroke. And while this is good news if a critical
illness happens to you – your recovery may come with costs that you don’t have the money to cover.

This is where critical illness insurance can play a crucial role. In this article, we’ll explain:

  • What critical illness insurance is.

  • What you can use the money from a critical illness insurance payout for.

  • How you can get critical illness insurance.

What is critical illness insurance?

A critical illness policy is designed to help you pay the costs associated with a serious medical issue such as cancer, a stroke or a
heart attack.  With critical illness insurance, your insurance company will issue you a lump-sum payment once the waiting period has passed.

Critical illness insurance can help you pay for costs that aren’t covered by other health plans or disability insurance.

What can I use the money from critical illness insurance for?

With a critical illness lump-sum payment, there are no restrictions on what you can use the money for. You can choose to use the money
to:

  • Pay down debt or cover costs such as travel to and from your treatment.

  • Cover lost income for you if you cannot work. This is especially important if you are self-employed.

  • Pay for a caregiver or lost wages if your spouse takes time off work to be a caregiver.

  • Cover renovations on your house that are necessary due to your illness.

  • Cover medical treatments and medications not covered by a government or private health plan.

Being able to spend your critical illness insurance lump-sum payment freely takes a lot of stress off you and your family.

How do I get critical illness insurance?

We can help you get critical illness insurance.  If you’re interested in critical illness insurance, these are the steps you’ll need to follow:

  1. Think about why you want critical illness insurance and what kind of coverage you need.

  2. Book an appointment to speak to us. Apply for coverage.

  3. We’ll let you know when you’re approved and deliver your policy.

If you do get any of the illnesses listed in your policy, contact us, and we’ll guide you through the steps you need to file a claim. After your claim is approved, we’ll let you know when to expect your lump-sum payment.

Contact us!

It can be scary to think about getting ill, but critical illness insurance can help put your mind at ease that you’ll have the financial
resources you need. Reach out to us today to learn more!

Insurance Planning for Incorporated Professionals

For incorporated professionals, making sure your practice is financially protected can be overwhelming. Incorporated professionals face a unique set of challenges when it comes to managing risk. Insurance can play an important role when it comes to reducing the financial impact on your practice in the case of uncontrollable events such as disability, or critical illness. This infographic and article address the importance of corporate insurance.

The 4 areas of insurance a incorporated professional should take care of are: 

  • Health 

  • Disability 

  • Critical Illness 

  • Life

Health: We are fortunate in Canada, where the healthcare system pays for basic healthcare services for Canadian citizens and permanent residents. However, not everything healthcare related is covered, in reality, 30% of our health costs* are paid for out of pocket or through private insurance such as prescription medication, dental, prescription glasses, physiotherapy, etc.

For incorporated professionals, offering employee health benefits make smart business sense because health benefits can form part of a compensation package and can help retain key employees and attract new talent.

For incorporated professionals that are looking to provide alternative health plans in a cost effective manner, you may want to consider a health spending account.

Disability: Most people spend money on protecting their home and car, but many overlook protecting their greatest asset: their ability to earn income. Unfortunately one in three people on average will be disabled for 90 days or more at least once before the age of 65.

Consider the financial impact this would have on your practice if you or a key employee were to suffer from an injury or illness. Disability insurance can provide a monthly income to help keep your practice running.

Business overhead expense insurance can provide monthly reimbursement of expenses during total disability such as rent for commercial space, utilities, employee salaries and benefits, equipment leasing costs, accounting fees, insurance premiums for property and liability, etc.

Key person disability insurance can be used to provide monthly funds for you or key employee while they’re disabled and protect the business from lost revenue while your business finds and trains an appropriate replacement.

Critical Illness: For a lot of us, the idea of experiencing a critical illness such as a heart attack, stroke or cancer can seem unlikely, but almost 3 in 4 (73%) working Canadians know someone who experience a serious illness. Sadly, this can have serious consequences on you, your family and business, with Critical Illness insurance, it provides a lump sum payment so you can focus on your recovery.

Key person critical illness insurance can be used to provide funds to the practice so it can supplement income during time away, cover debt repayment, salary for key employees or fixed overhead expenses.

Buy sell critical illness insurance can provide you with a lump sum payment if your business partner or shareholder were to suffer from a critical illness. These funds can be used to purchase the shares of the partner, fund a buy sell agreement and reassure creditors and suppliers.

Life: For an incorporated professional, not only do your employees depend on you for financial support but your loved ones do too. Life insurance is important because it can protect your practice and also be another form of investment for excess funds.

Key person life insurance can be used to provide a lump sum payment to the practice on death of the insured so it can keep the business going until you an appropriate replacement is found. It can also be used to retain loyal employees by supplying a retirement fund inside the insurance policy.

Loan coverage life insurance can help cover off any outstanding business loans and debts.

Reduce taxes & diversify your portfolio, often life insurance is viewed only as protection, however with permanent life insurance, there is an option to deposit excess funds not needed for operations to provide for tax-free growth (within government limits) to diversify your portfolio and reduce taxes on passive investments.  

Talk to us to make sure you and your practice are protected.