Cancer insurance is a supplemental insurance that will pay an initial amount after you are diagnosed with cancer. Then it will likely cover any amounts for expenses that are not paid by your regular benefits plan.
The problem with cancer insurance, or any other kind of disease-specific insurance is that you’re often paying too much in premiums for too little coverage. While it will pay for your cancer treatments, it will not cover related issues caused by cancer such as pneumonia or infection.
To be eligible, you cannot have a pre-existing cancer diagnosis. While this makes sense from an insurance perspective, it most likely won’t for you. You would have to be rather sure that you will get cancer at some point in your life, or at least that it’s more likely than other forms of disease and illness.
If you have a strong history of cancer in your family, then cancer insurance may be for you. For most people, you would often be better off with critical illness insurance. Critical illness insurance will cover a wide array of illnesses, which will more likely pay out since you won’t have to gamble on which illness you may get in the future.
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Tom Drake is the owner and head writer of Canadian Finance Blog.
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Waitaminit. Does this mean that Canadian national health insurance doesn’t cover catastrophic illness? If you get cancer, are you not covered?
That casts a whole new light on the argument that US health care reformers should look to Canada for a model. It would mean you pay high taxes to get health coverage but STILL have to pay extortionate premiums to some insurer to be fully covered. Is that so?
Medical visits and operations are covered. Other items like prescriptions or loss of wages are not. Many people have prescriptions covered through their employer or a plan like Blue Cross, but these might only be 80%, the insurance would cover the remaining. But yes, when needing medical attention, that’s covered.
Hi Tom,
I have a few questions for you. Do do know any who got cancer, heart, attack stroke, MS,had to get coronary artery bypass surgery, Alzheimer’s disease, Deafness? plus a number of other problems not listed here.
Can you get 8% every year on your money? For the next 20 plus years had you not bought the policy and invested it?
Can you get all your money back with other insurance coverage like home or auto if you don’t make a claim? (you can with criticall illness insurance)
Did you know that the coverage offered in Canada can not be bought for the same guarranteed rates in the US or in UK?
If you want to learn more drop me a line.
Brian
Brian, I think critical illness insurance is a well worth the premiums since it covers a wide array of issues, as I stated in the final paragraph of the post.
However, I think that insuring against one specific disease, without any prior diagnoses, is a bit of a gamble.
great info very helpful!
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My wife has ovarian cancer.. I’m glad to live in Canada because it’s all covered.. Her loss of income isn’t covered though.
We didn’t know it was cancer until she actually had the operation… They told us that it could be a cyst, and it wasn’t guaranteed to be cancer.
It’s a really bad situation… and it’s hard to know…
.-= Monty Loree´s last blog ..some downsides of being frugal =-.
Sorry to hear that Monty, and yes, it’s nice to live in Canada and have the medical expenses covered.
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