Critical Illness Coverage
A tax-free lump sum payment when you're diagnosed with a serious illness.
Critical illness insurance pays you a tax-free lump sum if you're diagnosed with a covered serious illness such as cancer, heart attack, or stroke. CI gives you a single large payment to use however you need: medical costs, travel for treatment, paying off your mortgage, or maintaining your lifestyle while you recover.
Key Benefits
Tax-free lump-sum payment
Upon diagnosis and surviving the waiting period (usually 30 days), you receive a tax-free lump sum, typically $25,000 to $2,000,000, with no restrictions on how you spend it.
Covers 25+ critical conditions
Standard policies cover life-threatening cancer, heart attack, stroke, and coronary artery bypass. Enhanced policies cover 25+ conditions.
Return of premium option
Many carriers offer a return of premium rider. If you never make a claim, you get all your premiums back at a specified age or at death.
Complements your health and life insurance
Provincial health insurance covers treatment, but not your mortgage, lost income, or travel costs. CI fills this critical gap.
Who Is This Best For?
Frequently Asked Questions
Most policies cover: life-threatening cancer, heart attack, stroke, coronary artery bypass surgery, kidney failure, major organ transplant, blindness, deafness, paralysis, and more.
Disability insurance replaces your income monthly if you can't work. Critical illness pays a one-time lump sum upon diagnosis, regardless of whether you can work.
No. The lump sum benefit paid from a personally owned critical illness policy is completely tax-free in Canada.
Most policies require you to survive 30 days after diagnosis before the benefit is paid.
It depends on the condition and carrier. Some carriers specialize in higher-risk applicants.