Critical Illness insurance is a “Living Benefit” that provides employees with a Tax-Free lump sum payment upon diagnosis of a critical illness. It is in place to cover them for up to 30 qualifying conditions. Some group benefits plans may also extend Critical Illness coverage to dependents. Employees do not have to provide medical evidence to obtain Group Critical Illness. Group Critical Illness is often much more affordable than individual Critical Illness policies.
Critical Illness insurance is designed to mitigate financial struggles when an individual is unexpectedly diagnosed with a life threatening condition such as:
- Cancer
- Heart Attack
- Stroke
- Coronary Artery Bypass
Surgery - Multiple Sclerosis
- and many others.
If employees or their dependants experience a critical illness, the priority will be their health. They may need extra money because of income loss, medical expenses not covered by government plans, home or automobile modifications, alternative care costs and many other unexpected expenses.
According to 2017 Canadian Cancer Statistics released by the Canadian Cancer Society, due to tremendous progress in cancer treatment, there have been big gains in survival rates. However, 277,000 people a year will be diagnosed with cancer by 2030 – a 40% rise in cases – led by upsurges in prostate and colorectal cancer cases.
“ It is important to help employees when they need it the most ”
However, a study released by BC Cancer Agency indicates that First Nations men and women experience a higher occurrence of colorectal cancer in age-standardized incident rates. There also appears to be a trend towards increasing numbers of cancer cases for both sexes. For example, the risk for colorectal cancer increases with age, but several lifestyle factors have been linked to the disease, including eating a diet high in red and processed meats, a lack of dietary fibre, a lack of physical exercise, obesity, alcohol, and smoking. Lifestyle changes might be the reason why incidence rates of cancers are rising in adults under 50.
In light of this information, management teams should ask this question to themselves: “Is it important to help employees when they need it the most?”