Heart Attack

Coronary Bypass Surgery

Prostate Cancer

Stroke

Breast Cancer

Other life threatening cancer

Multiple Sclerosis

Kidney Failure

Major Organ Transplant

Aorta Graft Surgery

Benign Brain Tumour

Coma

Heart Valve Surgery

Pre Senile Dementia (Alzheimer's)

HIV Assault with Needle

Loss of Independent Existence

Loss of Speech

Parkinson's Disease

Paralysis/Paraplegia

Severe Burns

Balloon Angioplasty

Blindness in both eyes

Coronary Artery Disease

HIV through Blood Transfusion

HIV Medical Profession

Loss of Hearing

Loss of Limb

Motor Neurone Disease

Of 10 Healthy male adults, 3 will have a critical illness before age 65

Of 10 healthy female adults, 2.7 will have a critical illness before age 65

(From the Heart and Stroke Foundation)

1 in 4 Canadians will contract some form of heart disease

75,000 Canadians suffer heart attacks each year

Heart disease costs the Canadian economy approximately $19 billion every year in medical services, hospitalization expenses, loss of income and loss of productivity

The rate of death among patients hospitalized for heart attacks has been decreased by half, from 16 per cent to 8 per cent

1 in 2 heart attack victims are under the age of 65

Insure against Stroke Who know by the Stroke of Luck this coverage may help to pay on the Road To Recovery

(From the Heart and Stroke Foundation)

50,000 Canadians suffer a stroke each year

75% survive the initial event

strokes are the leading cause of neurological disability

1/3 of stroke victims are under the age of 65

60% of stroke victims will be left with a disability

(From the Canadian Cancer Society)

more than 130,000 Canadians will be diagnosed with cancer this year

over 60,000 people in Canada will die this year from the disease

1 in 3 Canadians will develop cancer in their lifetime

1 in 9 women will develop breast cancer

1 in 3 women and 1 in 2.5 men will develop cancer in their lifetime.

(From the the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario/Canada)

bypass surgery is performed more on men than women by a ratio of nearly 4 to 1

there are approximately 11,000 bypass surgeries performed in Canada each year

the rate at which bypass surgery is performed on people age 65 and older has increased

(From the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada)

More than 50,000 Canadians have Multiple Sclerosis

MS is the most common neurological disease among young Canadians

Canadians have one of the highest rates of MS in the world.

Women are twice as likely to develop MS as men

(From the Parkinson's Foundation of Canada)

30% of all Parkinson's patients are under 50

20% of all Parkinson's patients are under 40

there are approximately 80,000 - 100,000 Canadians suffering from Parkinson's

(From the National Spinal Cord Injury Association of Canada)

There is an estimated 900 Canadians who sustain a spinal cord injury each year

More than 30,000 Canadians suffer from paralysis of 2 or more limbs

Most persons who suffer spinal cord injury are between 16 and 30 years of age

The most common causes of spinal cord injury are car collisions and falls

(From the Canadian Alzheimer Society)

Alzheimer Disease is the fourth leading cause of death in Canada

Every year approximately 10,000 Canadians die from Alzheimer's

Approximately 1 in 100 Canadians suffer from Alzheimer's disease

There are approximately 22,000 people in Metro Toronto with Alzheimer's

The disease occurs in 8% of the general population over 60

(From the Kidney Foundation of Canada)

Kidney disease ranks sixth among diseases causing death in Canada

Each day an average of 8 Canadians learn that their kidneys have failed

Approximately 2000 Canadians are on a waiting list for kidney transplant

351 kidney transplants were performed in Ontario in 1995

1 in 10 will develop kidney stones at some point in their lives

(From the Canadian Hearing Society)

280,000 Canadians are deaf

1,120,000 Canadians are hard of hearing

1,400,000 do not use amplification

There are more than 2,800,000 Canadians with hearing loss

(From the Canadian Aids Society)

Approximately 4.4 million health care workers suffer 800,000 needle sticks and other injuries from sharp objects annually

An estimated 16,000 of these objects are contaminated with HIV

Lump Sum Payment: This is  the traditional type of critical illness insurance where one typically gets a lump sum payment 30 days after the diagnosis of a covered illness.  These funds can then be used to pay for treatment outside the country or any other purpose you choose

Medical Treatment Only: One company now offers $1 million to cover the cost of  medical treatment anywhere in the world.  Once a critical illness is diagnosed, you put in touch with "Best Doctors" and they will provide you and your doctor with their recommendation on what medical treatment would be best for your illness wherever that is offered in the world.  The policy will pay for the "best doctors" opinion and then up to $1million for this treatment wherever in the world it is offered.  There is also an allowance for family travel and expenses.   If you choose to stay in Canada for the treatment, it pays out $25.000.

The premiums are very reasonable (family of four with parents in their early 40's) would be about $125 to $150 per month.  However, there are some limitations to this policy and you need to review it carefully before deciding which would be best.  I can help you with this review.

Lump Sum Payment and $1 million for Medical Treatment: One company now offers the traditional Critical Illness coverage at competitive rates plus a rider you can purchase which covers the $1 million if you and the doctors feel you would benefit by going outside the country for treatment.

Return of Premium: Upon death, most policies will return all premiums to your beneficiary as part of the policy - no additional charge

Pay Back of Premium Rider: Many policies offer this option on the policies that have a level premium to age 65, 70 or 75. For an extra premium, if you do not have a claim, you will get all your premiums back at the policy ending age 65, 70 or 75, depending on the insurance company and policy purchased.

Children's Rider: Coverage is offered to children ages 2-17 and, in some cases for children that you have in the future starting at birth. It will pay a lump sum, usually $25,000 on the diagnosis of a critical illness and the one premium frequently covers all children in the family.

Ten Year Renewable Term: Similar to ten year renewable term life insurance. Rates are guaranteed in the policy but they do go up every ten years until the policy ends at age 65, 70 or 75. Generally useful if the need is limited to 15 years or less. One use is to provide cash to complete retirement plan should the insured become ill. The policy lasts to the age given and the premiums remain the same throughout this time period.

Level to Age 65,70,75: This is one are of concern. Clearly the greatest likelihood of claim is between age 65 and 75 so the longer term policies will cost a little more but could be worth the extra cost. This is an important area

Permanent or To Age 100: These ones are designed to last a life time so the chances of collecting are high as so is the premium. Also, be careful that at age 100 the policy is still in place. While this has some uses, if money is short, one should look at getting the coverage to age 75.

Critical Illness Insurance was developed by Dr. Marius Barnard (the brother of Christian Barnard, the doctor who performed the first successful open heart transplant surgery) in South Africa in 1983. Dr. Barnard saw an need for insurance that paid a "living benefit" to those who survived a major illness to offset lost income and pay additional expenses.

It is inspiring to hear him tell stories of delivering a Critical Illness benefit check to the wife of a farmer who had a heart attack (they would have lost their farm without the Critical Illness benefit payment), or to a young, single mother who had breast cancer (and couldn't afford the medical treatment and the after-treatment expenses without the benefits paid from her critical illness policy).

He is a consultant to Canada Life in Canada and had an impact on the design of their product

While Critical Illness Insurance was introduced in Canada five years ago which is realatively early for generating statistics. However, it has an established track record in South Africa, United Kingdom, Australia and Japan. Because of its broad appeal, Critical Illness Insurance is very successful wherever it has been introduced: In 1987 Critical Illness plans were successfully launched in England.

More than 70 U.K. insurance companies sell a Critical Illness policies and more critcal illness insurance is sold in the UK than life insurance. This is primarily due to the linking of critical illness insurance and mortgage insurance. This makes sense as 46% of forclosures in Canada are due to major illnesses. Critical Illness was introduced in Australia in 1990 and almost all Australian life insurance companies now offer a Critical Illness policy.

They recently introduced a Critical Illness policy in Japan that only covers heart attack, stroke, and cancer. Over 500,000 policies were sold in just 10 months and there were over 6 million policies sold by the end of its fourth year!