INDIVIDUAL PLANS
Critical Illness Plans
Critical illness plans and/or riders on other types of individual or group plans pay
you a cash lump sum if you are diagnosed with a life-threatening illness such as
cancer, heart disease requiring surgery, heart attack or stroke. Some critical illness
policies also cover kidney failure, blindness, organ transplant, paraplegia,
quadriplegia, and/or dementia (including Alzheimer's disease) .
You can use the money for anything you want: to pay off debts, to finance expensive
medical equipment or special home care, to pay for child care, to change careers or
to start a small business.
Living Benefits
If you become terminally ill, you may need extra cash to pay medical bills and living
expenses.
Many companies provide living or accelerated benefits to individual life insurance
policy holders who suffer a life-threatening illness.
When you apply for living benefits from your life insurance policy, you must provide
your insurance company with a medical opinion that you are in the terminal stages
of an illness and have 24 months or less to live. The insurance company must also
ascertain that the proceeds from your policy have not been assigned to pay off a
loan or debt, or left irrevocably to someone who might sue for full benefits once you
die.
TIP: Consult a lawyer or financial advisor before applying for living benefits. Although
these benefits are not subject to income tax at present, they can affect your eligibility
for social assistance benefits that are based on means tests
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