Critical Illness Insurance

A sudden diagnosis of heart disease, cancer, stroke or other critical conditions will change your financial priorities in a heartbeat.

Medical treatments are often costly, or even experimental – or maybe even only available abroad. If you need to alter your lifestyle according to your changing abilities, or settle your affairs, or just take a vacation, you’d better be prepared.

Critical illness insurance provides a lump-sum benefit upon the diagnosis of a defined critical condition which can be used for whatever purpose you choose.

Critical illness insurance can be understood as an investment in protection against an uncertain future. The following statistics speak for themselves:

  • 1 in 9 women will develop breast cancer
  • 1 in 21 women will develop lung cancer
  • 1 in 8 men will develop prostate cancer
  • 1 in 11 men will develop lung cancer
  • 1 in 3 will develop a form of life threatening cancer
  • 3 of 4 families will be affected by cancer
  • 30% of those with cancer are completely cured
  • 1 in 2 will contract some form of heart disease
  • 95% of heart attack victims survive the first attack
  • 1 in 20 run the risk of having a stroke before age 70
  • 75% of stroke victims survive the first stroke
  • 1 in 4 will develop kidney disease

Sources: Heart and Stroke Foundation, 2004
National Cancer Institute of Canada – Canadian Cancer Statistics, 2004