Critical Illness
We Can Help Protect You and Your Family
It is never pleasant to think about suffering a serious illness, but just as you purchase other types of insurance to protect you and your family, having critical illness insurance is part of a comprehensive financial plan. It is important to protect against a significant loss of income or to ensure a high degree of business continuity.
Chevron Wealth Preservation and its partners can give you access to the right insurance products for your personal and business circumstances. We have the expertise to assess your insurance needs and recommend the products that best meet those needs.
Protection When You Need it Most
Most people understand the concept of life insurance and many have taken out a policy to protect their loved ones.
Disability insurance is also well known, as it protects your financial security in case you suffer a long-term injury and cannot work. However, have you stopped to think about what you and your family would do if you were stricken by a heart attack, stroke or some form of cancer?
Business owners must also prepare for, and protect against, a serious illness to one of the partners or key employees.
The risk is more common than you might think. Consider these statistics:
- 9 in 10 Canadians have at least one risk factor for heart disease and stroke
- More than 400,000 Canadians are living with the effects of stroke
- An estimated 2 in 5 Canadians will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime and 1 in 4 will die from the disease
- In 2021, it was expected that 229,200 Canadians will be diagnosed with cancer, and 84,600 will die from the disease
- Almost half of all new cases will be lung and bronchus, breast, colorectal and prostate cancers
- About 90% of cancer diagnoses occur among Canadians who are at least 50 years of age
Source: Heart and Stroke Foundation 2017 and The Government of Canada 2021
While it may be emotionally challenging to face the possibility of developing a serious illness, you do not want to make the situation worse by being financially unprepared. Critical illness insurance reduces the financial burden of a severe medical condition by providing a tax-free, lump sum payment if you are diagnosed with a qualified illness. The amount of the benefit depends on your needs and typically ranges from $25,000 to $2,000,000. Knowing that you have this potential benefit is comforting, and, if you are fortunate enough not to develop a critical illness, some policies will even return the insurance premiums.
Why You Should Consider Critical Illness
- Protect your income. You could be at risk of losing years of income if an unexpected illness prevents you from working. Your insurance policy will pay out benefits that can help cover your regular living expenses, maintain your mortgage payments or provide savings for the future.
- Pay medical costs. With a serious illness, not all treatments or related expenses are covered by government health plans. A critical illness policy will pay benefits in case you need to modify your home or purchase medical devices, or if you require in-home care, child care, physical therapy or a number of other special services related to your illness.
- Enhance the recovery process. You need time and rest to recover from a critical illness. Your insurance policy is there so you are not pressured into returning to work before you are ready. By managing the financial burden associated with treating and recuperating from a serious illness, you can recover at the right pace for you – and even arrange for a loved one to take an unpaid leave of absence from work to spend valuable time with you during your recovery.
Why Should Business Owners Consider Critical Illness Insurance?
- Protection for the sole owner. Critical illness insurance can help you hire someone to run your business while you recover, pay for expenses related to out-of-country medical treatment or even retire earlier.
- Key person coverage. If you, a partner or key employee, falls ill for an extended period, insurance can help you hire a replacement or cover a loss in business income that results from a decline in productivity.
- Funding for a buy-sell agreement. This feature provides business owners with the option to buy out the other partner of the business in the event that one partner suffers a career-ending critical illness. With this coverage, the critical illness insurance benefit is paid to the healthy partner so he or she can purchase the business interest from the other partner.
- Provides an employee benefit. Critical illness can be included in any group life and health benefit plan to give your employees a greater sense of financial security.