Critical illness insurance is designed to benefit you in the case you are diagnosed with a serious illness. The least thing you probably want to care about when you are really sick is your finance. Although we all have covered by government healthcare, but it does not take care of any financial burden or living expenses associate with critical illness. As an insurance advisor, we can see many clients have some common misunderstanding about critical illness:
- “Critical illness insurance and disability insurance work the same way.” It’s definitely NOT the same at all. When you are diagnosed with one of 36 listed illnesses, you will have to survive for a certain period of time (usually 30 days) to receive a tax-free lump sum amount, and you can use it as you want.
- “If I ever have a cancer or heart attack, I prefer buying life insurance than critical illness because I may have no use to that.” According to statistics, over 60% of Canadians who have cancer are expected to live for 5 years or longer. For heart attack, 90% of Canadians survive, but they need time to fully recover.
- “No matter what kind of cancer I have, the insurance will pay me”. First of all, your diagnose must fall into one of 36 listed illnesses, and the definition of your illness has to be matched within the policy. It’s a little bit more complicated with the definition and condition for critical illness. You should have your own insurance advisor to take care of it.
- “If I have any health issue or medical pre-existing condition, I can’t buy critical illness insurance”. Insurance company do offer non-medical insurance, which means you don’t have to do any medical exam to get approval for buying critical illness insurance. You just have to answer Yes or No to some medical questions and wait for 2 to 3 days for the approval.
- “If I buy critical illness insurance now, my premium may increase when I get older”. It’s completely wrong! Once your policy is issued, your premium rates will be the same until your policy is expired or cancelled by you.