In my career as a Financial Security Advisor, I come across many women who are concerned about what kind of an impact a serious illness would have on their life, career and their family. Breast cancer is an illness that often comes up in conversation and for good reason. It’s one of the most feared illnesses that Canadian women face.

The Canadian Cancer Society says breast cancer is the most common cancer among Canadian women (excluding non-melanoma skin cancer). In 2010,

• An estimated 23,200 women were diagnosed with breast cancer and 5,300 died of it.

• On average, 445 Canadian women are diagnosed with breast cancer every week.

• On average, 100 Canadian women will die of breast cancer every week,

The good news is that since the early nineties the incidence of breast cancer has stabilized and death rates have declined steadily. With early detection, improved treatments, prevention education, women today are doing much better in the battle against breast cancer.

Today, more women are financially prepared to deal with a critical illness like breast cancer thanks to critical illness insurance. Critical illness insurance is gaining popularity as a way to help you recover without financial pressures and without tapping into savings. If there was ever an insurance to help empower women during a cancer diagnosis and recovery, it’s critical illness insurance.

If your family’s medical history includes breast cancer or other health issues, then a critical illness insurance policy can offer you an additional layer of financial protection.

Critical illness insurance fills the gap in existing provincial health care coverage and can pay for an array of unexpected costs related to a breast cancer diagnosis, including time off work, child care, treatments, uninsured drugs and recovery. Critical illness insurance pays you a lump sum cash benefit of, say for example, $50,000 or $100,000 dollars upon the diagnosis and survival of up to 25 different medical conditions, including cancer.

Lost income and the rising costs of uninsured medications related to breast cancer is a serious and surprising consequence that affects many women in Canada.

Many women don’t have any financial support or insurance set up to protect them against the financial impact of a critical illness like breast cancer. Self-employed, contract workers, part-timers, and stay-at-home moms often need much more financial help, and this often puts stress on their spouse and family’s income. Even if you are employed, are you prepared to suddenly leave your job for eight to 12 months if you are diagnosed with breast cancer? Even if you have some group insurance (many women don’t even know what their group insurance covers), it’s often not enough to cover the costs and losses associated with un-insured drugs, your mortgage, family and other financial obligations.

Not too long ago a friend of mine was diagnosed with breast cancer while in-between jobs. She had no income coming in and no insurance.

She ended up having surgery, radiation therapy and chemotherapy, while incurring a list of new expenses such as uninsured medications. Anti-nausea drugs cost her $100 dollars a pill and even the parking and travel to the hospital was starting to add up. She mentioned she wished someone would have told her about critical illness insurance a few years ago. Knowing what she knows now, she recommends all women consider some form of critical illness insurance protection.

There was a recent study conducted at Laval University, involving 800 women who underwent breast cancer treatment at 8 different hospitals. Of the total, 458 had a paying job at the time of diagnosis, including 74 per cent who worked full-time, 10 per cent part-time and 16 per cent who were self-employed.

According to the study, one in six women who had been working received no compensation at all, and only half the women benefited from private insurance from their employer. The research showed that women who suffered the most financially were those who underwent the most aggressive treatment – meaning surgery, radiation and chemotherapy – because they required the most time off. The study also showed that women with breast cancer took an average of 32 weeks off work while 22 per cent of women did not return to work after one year.

So what are you waiting for? Consider a first step towards critical illness insurance by talking to a trained and qualified insurance broker in your area. You can apply for critical illness insurance without any upfront cost or commitment to you.

Neglecting Critical Illness Insurance is Risky Business.

Part of our continuing blog series entitled:

Insurance Mistakes Canadians Continue To Make.

What are our insurance risks? Are we as Canadians dying early? No. We are becoming ill. There’s no doubt that life insurance has a crucial role in our lives, but there is a new era of Critical Illness Insurance gaining ground and for good reason. We live in a society of illness.  40% of women and 45% of men in Canada will get cancer and over 3,300 get diagnosed with cancer every week, says the Canadian Cancer Society.  Denial or avoidance is irresponsible when you consider these statistics. We need to face this risk of a critical illness  instead of pretending it isn’t going to happen.

I know most of us think we’re healthy and we’re not worrying at the moment but how many people do we know who are survivors of cancer, heart attack or stroke? I’m sure we could name many. I can count at least 6 relatives of mine. Never mind friends, colleagues and neighbours. Those relatives of mine who have had cancer were all under the age of 45.

Survivors of cancer, heart attack, and stroke (just to name a few of the more known illnesses) are burdened with an array of costs. From recovery to treatments to non-covered drugs to time off work, their hard earned income, savings, and retirement money becomes depleted and forces them back to work when they should be recovering. Critical illness insurance, which pays a lump sum cash benefit, can really help to relieve the costs and stress associated with a recovery.

Canadian health care may not cover the latest treatments in cancer cases and the Canadian Cancer Society says the average cost for cancer drugs is $20,000 a year.  See our page, Critical Illness Insurance and Cancer in Canada for more on this. It’s common for people to have their savings and retirement damaged by the cost of illness and recovery.

We are fortunate to have wonderful advances in medical technologies and we are living longer than ever, even after an illness. The problem for many is that it costs money to recover and maintain a lifestyle. If we think our health care system is going to take care of us in the future, think again.  We need to take care of ourselves rather than totally relying on the government. One smart step would be to set up proper insurance coverage. $50,000, $100,000 or $500,000 dollars of coverage  can do wonders for surviving a critical illness. A cancer survivor I recently met said she is still so angry at herself for passing up the Critical Illness insurance that was suggested to her almost two years ago.

There are a few reasons why many Canadians don’t even know about or understand how Critical Illness insurance can help them. One reason is that insurance advisors and agents are not even mentioning the product to their clients. This is because many advisors are not properly educated, trained or up to date on the details of Critical Illness Insurance and are not confident to speak about it. Another reason is that many advisors don’t even own Critical Illness insurance and are never going to be able to best convey the benefits of a product they don’t own themselves. Also, Critical Illness insurance has a more stringent qualification process than life insurance. Eligibility has a lot to do with the health history of your immediate family, not just your own, so some insurance advisors just don’t want to deal with a product that’s harder to place for a client.

Looking back now, do you remember your insurance advisor or agent ever mentioning anything about Critical Illness insurance to you? Do you feel this is risk worth protecting?

Toronto – Only one-third believe health-care system will provide them with affordable treatment.

A recent Globe and Mail article from September 2010 is highlighting the fact that a large number of Canadians now fear the financial repercussions of a cancer diagnosis as much as the health consequences, a new survey reveals.

The poll, commissioned by the Canadian Cancer Society shows that only one-third of citizens believe the health-care system would provide them with affordable treatment if they were cancer-stricken.

Given the soaring cost of drugs and the spotty coverage afforded by drug plans around the country, they are right to worry, says Aaron Levo, assistant director of public issues at the Canadian Cancer Society.

The Canadian Cancer Society is pushing for a new national catastrophic drug insurance program to help Canadian’s in need of drugs not covered by OHIP.

If only more Canadians understood how Critical Illness insurance could help cover finances during Cancer recovery and protect against this risk, we may not have this problem. Canadians are kept out of the loop because most life insurance brokers and agents in Canada are not effectively trained and do not even mention Critical Illness insurance to their clients. The fact that Critical Illness insurance is harder to qualify for than life insurance is a big reason advisors don’t bother mentioning it. This is a great disservice to many clients and goes against the fiduciary duty of the advisor, who is there to recommend proper financial protection for all aspects of the client’s life.

Cancer drugs taken outside the hospital – and hence not automatically covered by OHIP – cost about $20,000 for a course of treatment. For newer drugs, the cost exceeds $65,000.

An estimated 173,800 new cases of cancer will be diagnosed in Canada in 2010, according to projections from the Canadian Cancer Society. At least 76,200 Canadians will die of cancer this year.

Fortunately Lifesure Group provides Canadians with Critical Illness insurance to cover the cost of treatment and recovery during a life-threatening illness such as Cancer. A tax-free lump sum of money is paid after diagnosis and after the waiting period is satisfied . Many Critical Illness Insurance plans offer Best Doctors Services, a network powered by the world’s top specialist doctors dedicated to providing diagnostic second opinions and treatment advice. Visit our Critical Illness Insurance page here.