As you probably already realize, critical illnesses can have a major impact on the emotions and finances of those diagnosed and those close to them. I myself have gone through the experience of my mother being diagnosed with colon cancer. She was a perfectly healthy woman who did everything right in life, but still contracted the illness. You can read the previous post detailing my experience here.

This article intends to shed some light on the costs that seem obvious after the fact, but it doesn’t truly hit you until you or someone you love are going through these tough times.

First, if your spouse, child, grandparent, or anyone you need to take care of get cancer, chances are, you will need to take some time off work to look after them. But it’s not as simple as taking off a week or two or using vacation days. My mother had to undergo chemotherapy twice a week over the course of 6 months.

This means, every Monday and Wednesday, someone (my father or myself) had to take time off work to take her to the hospital, wait while the treatment happens, and then drive her home.

Each session total was about 3-5 hours, or the better part of an entire workday for most people. So basically, you can expect to have to take off up to 60 days off, non-continuous to take care of your loved one. This is on top of the fact that my mother was in no condition to work during this 6-month period.

So, you have to ask yourself: would your family be financially stable if one person had to take off 6 months off work, and the other had to take off 60 days that year?

This is on top of all the medicine (that is not covered by OHIP by the way), at home care that may be required, and possible schedule alterations (child care?).

These are real things that happen with real costs that add up. People who don’t have Critical Illness Insurance are just straight-up more hard-done by when a critical illness occurs in the family. It’s a bad thing to say, most people are actually better off financially if that person were to die, than fighting through illness if you are unprepared. Critical Illness coverage is the answer to that. It is a relatively low-cost way to make sure that if you were ever to get sick, you would for sure have the financial capacity to get all the help you need, take all the time off that you need, in a lump-sum, tax free cash amount that you can use anyway you can. It doesn’t even necessarily have to be a life-threatening illness. If you never need the coverage in your lifetime, you get all your money back at age 65!* Also, because the costs can be so small, there is little opportunity cost compared to alternate forms of saving and investment.

Let’s at least talk about the program and how it can fit into your portfolio to make sure you never have to worry if you ever get sick.

*Different carriers have different ages for Return of Premium options. Some also allow coverage to extend even later, and you will still get your money back at a later age. Ask for more details.