Critical Illness Coverage...Leaving the Dent Out of Your Financial Timeline

Critical illness insurance may provide you with a source of funds at a critical time in your life. Let's talk about how a critical illness or condition could affect your family, and how you can include critical illness insurance in your financial security plan.

Unfortunately the odds are stacked against us:

• 1 in 2 men and 1 in 3 women are expected to contract a heard disease at some point in their life
• 1 in 2.3 men and 1 in 2.6 women are expected to develop cancer in their lifetime
• 70,000 Canadians suffer heart attacks every year
• 40,000 to 50,000 Canadians suffer a stroke each year

However, due to medical advancements:

• 80% of hospitalized heart attack patients survive, the percentage is higher for those with their first heart attack, and lower for those with recurrent heart attacks
• 80% of stroke patients survive the initial event
• The relative cancer survival rate has almost doubled since the 1960s^*

In addition to these survival rates, individuals today are living longer!

Changes in Life Expectancy	1920	1950	2003
Men (ages)	59	66	77.4
Women (ages)	61	71	82.3

If you need immediate treatment the wait time may be long and could cause a financial drain if you need to seek treatment elsewhere. As of 2007, the median wait time for Canadians is 18.3 weeks. This doesn’t take into consideration our aging population and increased strain on our health care system.

This chart shows how much out of country treatment may cost based on treatment at the Mayo Clinic in Canadian Dollars:

Out of Country Treatment	Canadian Dollars (Assumed CAD/USD exchange rate of $1.07)
Heart Transplant (2-4 weeks in hospital)	$283,500 - 449,400
Coronary Artery Bypass (1-4 vessels, 5-7 days in hospital)	$74,900 – 90,950
Radiation Cancer Therapy (for 6 weeks)	$53,500 – 74,900

Now think, do you know someone who is suffering or has suffered a critical illness? Do you think it had an impact on his or her lifestyle? These types of illnesses can lead to loss or reduction of income, increased living expenses, lifestyle changes, loss of choice and independence, jeopardized retirement goals and dreams, and a risk to your children’s future.

Think of your current situation, if you were faced with these financial stressors, how would you pay for them? RRSP withdrawals? Borrowing? Selling personal assets? I work critical illness coverage into all of my client’s plans, that way there will not be a dent as large as this in your financial timeline.

Let’s sit down and talk about critical illness coverage. Not only will you protect you, but you will protect those around you from the financial burdens of these catastrophic events.

 Sources: Heart and Stroke Foundation, 2006
                National Cancer Institute of Canada: Canadian Cancer Statistics 2008
                Statistics Canada 2006
                Transplant Financial Services/Mayo Rochester 2008
  The statistics provided in this post have been developed by identified sources and are not based on the definitions of critical conditions contained in the Oasis policy. They are provided for general information only.
 * In the 1960s an individual with cancer was 33% as likely as an individual without cancer to survive another five years. Today an individual with cancer is 59% as likely as an individual without cancer to survive another five years.