If illness stopped your income, what would carry you?

What it is, in one sentence

Critical illness insurance pays you a tax-free lump sum if you are diagnosed with a covered serious condition. You use it however you need: mortgage payments, time off work, treatment costs, keeping the household running. No receipts, no justification. Your money, your call.

Why it exists

Surviving a serious illness is more common than it used to be, and that is good news with a catch: survival costs money. Time off work, travel for treatment, help at home. Disability coverage replaces part of your income, but the lump sum from a critical illness policy is what keeps the big obligations, like the mortgage, from becoming the crisis on top of the crisis.

Who needs it most

Self-employed Canadians, contractors, and business owners sit at the top of the list: no group plan, no paid sick leave, and the business still has bills when you cannot work. Young families with a single income earner are close behind. If your household runs on your ability to show up, this deserves a real look.

How a claim works

Diagnosis of a covered condition, meeting the policy's definitions, surviving the waiting period (typically 30 days), then the lump sum is paid. The definitions are everything: two policies can both "cover cancer" and mean different things. This is the part worth going through with someone who reads these contracts for a living.

Common questions