Personal Canadian Insurance

First of all, there are many different Personal Insurances that you can apply for, depending on what you want to insure yourself for when you live in Canada. These include:

• Life Insurance
• Disability Insurance
• Critical Illness Insurance
• Long Term Care Insurance
• Health Insurance
• Supplementary/Extended Health Insurance

Canadian Life Insurance

This type of life insurance works by paying your beneficiaries (the person or persons who will receive your insurance payment) a lump sum of cash at the time of your death. This sum is tax-free.

Canadian Disability Insurance

If you are injured while you are employed, and you lose income as a result of your injury or illness caused by the incident, you can receive a monthly payout to help replace your lost income.

This type of insurance gives payments if you are temporarily or permanently unable to work for a certain period of time.

Examples of severe injuries are severe illness, the loss of a limb, or a heart attack.

Canadian Critical Illness Insurance

You can receive a lump sum payout if you are diagnosed with a serious medical condition (note: your condition must occur after you applied for this policy. Certain policies will not pay if you have a ‘pre-existing health condition’)

Examples of serious medical conditions are cancer, heart attacks, Alzheimer's, etc.

To receive a payment in the Critical Illness Insurance, you must survive your condition generally for a period of 15 to 30 days.

Canadian Long Term Care Insurance

If you require private or government care due to illness or disability, you can receive a payout to cover these costs for your long term care in a medical facility like a nursing home.

Canadian Health Insurance

Canadian health Insurance varies depending on where you choose live in Canada. Certain medical costs are covered by your public Canadian medical insurance like:

• Doctor visits
• Hospitalization and other costs

Canadian Supplementary/Extended Insurance

If you live in Canada, you may consider the Canadian Supplementary or Extended Insurance to cover the medical costs that are not covered by Canada’s public medical aid programs. This program covers medical insurance for services like:

• Dentist visits; and
• Prescription medication

Top Tips For Buying Canadian Health Insurance

When you buy extended or supplementary Canadian health insurance you must take the following into account:

• Ensure that your employer has not already included you in their health care program
• Check that when you apply for your health insurance, you know what your health program will cover e.g. doctor visits, dentist appointments, physiotherapy etc
• Check at the amount your health care program covers per year (what is the limit on your medical aid expenses). Is it paid as a lump sum, tax free or as a monthly payout?