Table of contents
Considering critical illness insurance? BMO Insurance is a major player in the Canadian insurance market, but is their critical illness product the perfect fit for you? This post will be your one-stop shop for everything you need to know about BMO critical illness insurance policies.
We’ll take a deep dive into its features and the pros and cons of its product. By the end, you’ll be equipped to decide whether BMO critical illness insurance offers the right protection for your needs and financial goals. So, buckle up, and let’s explore if critical illness insurance from BMO Insurance is truly worth it!
About BMO Life Assurance Company
BMO Insurance is the insurance arm of BMO Financial Group, Canada’s oldest bank. Founded in 1817 in Montreal, Quebec, it incorporated as the Bank of Montreal in 1822 and began operating as BMO Financial Group in 2002.
It has rewarded investors by paying a dividend every year of the bank’s existence, except in 1827 and 1828. The streak of paying dividends uninterrupted since 1829 is equalled by only a few companies listed on North American stock exchanges.
In 2009, Bank of Montreal purchased AIG’s Canadian life insurance unit, making BMO the second largest life insurer among Canadian banks. The new component was renamed BMO Life Assurance Company.
Besides critical illness insurance, BMO Financial Group also offers these insurance products:
- Term and whole life insurance
- Travel insurance
- Creditor insurance
- Segregated funds
- Payout annuities
Key facts about BMO Life Assurance Company
AM Best Rating: A
Head office: 60 Yonge Street Toronto, ON, M5E 1H5
Website: https://www.bmo.com/insurance
Contact phone number: 1-855-745-7331
What Critical Illness Insurance Plans Does BMO Insurance Offer?
A critical illness diagnosis can be life-altering. Beyond the physical and emotional toll, it can significantly impact your finances. Critical illness insurance steps in to provide a crucial safety net during this challenging time. It’s a specific type of insurance designed to pay you a tax-free lump sum benefit if you’re diagnosed with a covered critical illness, such as cancer, heart attack, or stroke.
Why is this important? Critical illnesses often come with hefty medical costs, even with provincial health insurance. You might need to take time off work, leading to lost income. Critical illness insurance provides a financial buffer. The lump sum payout is yours to use however you see fit. You can use it to:
- Cover out-of-pocket medical expenses not covered by provincial health insurance
- Replace lost income
- Hire a caregiver
- Pay your recurring bills like mortgage or rent
- Travel out-of-country for medical treatment
- Make necessary lifestyle adjustments during treatment and recovery
This financial security allows you to focus on what matters most—your health and well-being—during a critical time.
Now, let’s explore critical illness insurance from BMO Insurance and see how it can provide peace of mind in the face of a critical illness diagnosis.
Living Benefit
The critical illness plan from BMO Insurance is called Living Benefit. With Living Benefit, you can choose a lump sum benefit amount ranging from $25,000 to $2,000,000, allowing you flexibility in coverage to suit your needs and budget.
The plan covers 25 critical illnesses, including major ones like heart attack, stroke, and life-threatening cancer. BMO Insurance offers Living Benefit for individuals aged 18 to 65, allowing you to secure your financial future throughout adulthood.
Besides the lump sum payout, BMO Insurance also pays a partial benefit for less severe illnesses, like early stages of breast or prostate cancer. This benefit is 15% of your chosen lump sum amount, up to a maximum of $50,000. This can help cover early treatment costs or provide financial breathing room during recovery.
The plan includes access to Teladoc Medical Experts. This service provides you with a second medical opinion from a qualified specialist, helping you feel confident in your diagnosis. Teladoc can also assist you in finding a specialist in Canada and can even help you navigate the healthcare system, easing some of the burden during this challenging time.
Furthermore, Living Benefit includes access to LifeWorks. This service offers virtual counselling, allowing you to connect with a therapist to address mental health concerns, grief, or other challenges you might face as a result of your illness. LifeWorks can provide support for relationships, addictions, or any other life-changing event brought on by the diagnosis.
By combining comprehensive illness coverage with valuable support services, BMO Insurance aims to provide not only financial security but also emotional well-being during a critical illness.
- Pros:
- BMO Insurance offers a multi-policy discount on Living Benefit plans. When you purchase two or more policies at the same time, you can save 50% on the policy fee of $50 for each additional policy.
- Unlike most competitors, BMO Insurance lets you add Living Benefit as a rider to their life insurance policies. This simplifies management and potentially saves money compared to a standalone plan.
- BMO Insurance's Living Benefit offers a unique advantage with their term-100 life insurance plans. If you reach age 100 without a critical illness diagnosis, you'll still receive the full critical illness benefit amount as a maturity benefit.
- Cons:
- The partial benefit is only paid out once, regardless of how many early-stage illnesses you might be diagnosed with. For example, if you have both early breast and skin cancers, you would still only receive one partial benefit payment.
- Unlike some critical illness plans that only require a 30-day survival period for cardiovascular conditions like heart disease, Living Benefit applies this waiting period to all covered illnesses.
- Since the age eligibility ranges from 18 to 65, you won't be able to cover your children with this plan.
Here is a table summarizing BMO Insurance’s critical illness insurance plan:
Living Benefit | |
|---|---|
Age eligibility | 18-65 |
Number of illnesses covered | 25 |
Plan types | Term-10, Term-20, Term-75, Term-100, Term-100 15-pay |
Guaranteed premiums | Yes |
Expiry | Age 75 or 100, depending on the plan |
Coverage limits | $25,000 to $2,000,000 |
Survival period | 30 days for cardiovascular diseases only |
Partial benefits | Pays 15% of the chosen benefit amount, up to $50,000, for less severe illnesses. Covers seven illnesses. Only pays once |
Conversion privileges | Term-10 and term-20 can be converted to term-75 or term-100 |
Type of underwriting | Fully underwritten. A medical exam may be necessary |
Riders | Return of premium at death, return of premium at expiry, return of premium at surrender, children’s term, accidental death benefit, waiver of premium |
Value-added service | Teladoc Medical Experts, LifeWorks |
How to purchase | Through a licensed insurance advisor |
What Illnesses Does BMO Critical Illness Insurance Cover?
Living Benefit offers a robust list of 25 covered critical illnesses. However, it’s important to be aware that this list excludes acquired brain injury, which some competing critical illness insurance plans include. If you’re concerned about this condition, be sure to compare the specific illnesses covered by different plans to ensure you have the protection you need.
Living Benefit
- Aortic surgery
- Aplastic anaemia
- Bacterial meningitis
- Benign brain tumour
- Blindness
- Coma
- Coronary artery bypass surgery
- Deafness
- Dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease
- Heart attack
- Heart valve replacement or repair
- Kidney failure
- Life-threatening cancer
- Loss of independent existence
- Loss of limbs
- Loss of speech
- Major organ failure on waiting list
- Major organ transplant
- Motor neuron disease
- Multiple sclerosis
- Occupational HIV infection
- Paralysis
- Parkinson’s disease and specified atypical Parkinsonian disorders
- Severe burns
- Stroke
Similar to many critical illness plans, Living Benefit offers a partial payout for certain covered illnesses diagnosed at an early stage. BMO Insurance calls this the “Early Discovery Benefit”. The benefit helps manage costs associated with early detection and treatment of conditions like some early-stage cancers. The payout is 15% of your chosen lump sum benefit, with a maximum of $50,000.
Unlike some competitors’ critical illness insurance plans, Living Benefit will only pay out once for a covered condition, regardless of the number of diagnoses. For instance, if you’re diagnosed with multiple early-stage cancers, you would still only receive a single partial benefit payment.
Here’s a list of the illnesses eligible for partial benefits under Living Benefit:
- Coronary angioplasty
- Early breast cancer
- Early prostate cancer
- Early skin cancer
- Early stage blood cancer
- Early stage intestinal cancer
- Early thyroid cancer
How Much Does BMO Critical Illness Insurance Cost?
The cost of BMO Insurance critical illness insurance plans depends on several factors. The basic ones include your age, gender, and smoking status. Generally, younger applicants and non-smokers will pay lower premiums.
The type of plan you choose also plays a role in determining the cost. Shorter plans, like term-10, cost less than longer ones, like term-75. However, the premiums for term-10 policies increase every 10 years, so you might end up paying more if you renew it beyond the initial 10 years.
How much coverage you buy also affects your premiums. The higher the coverage amount, the higher the cost.
Beyond these, your overall health, medical history, lifestyle choices, and family history can also influence the final cost. If you have pre-existing health conditions or a family history of a major hereditary disease, your premiums might be higher.
To give you an idea of cost variations, a table is included below. It shows the standard monthly cost of Living Benefit critical illness insurance for non-smoking men and women for $100,000 of term-10 coverage:
Age | Male | Female |
|---|---|---|
25 | $23 | $25 |
30 | $29 | $28 |
35 | $33 | $33 |
40 | $43 | $46 |
45 | $63 | $62 |
50 | $99 | $84 |
55 | $160 | $131 |
60 | $262 | $186 |
How Do You Buy A BMO Critical Illness Insurance Plan?
Once you’ve decided that BMO Insurance’s Living Benefit critical illness plan aligns with your needs, here’s a roadmap to securing your coverage:
- Connect with a licensed insurance advisor
BMO Insurance’s critical illness insurance plans are sold through independent licensed insurance advisors. These advisors can provide expert guidance throughout the process.
- Initial assessment and quote
Your advisor will conduct a preliminary health assessment to determine eligibility and request information like your age, medical conditions, family history, lifestyle habits, and desired coverage amount. Based on this, they’ll provide you with personalized quotes to help you choose the most suitable plan and coverage amount. They’ll also explain the details of the policy coverage, including any riders you might consider adding.
- Application and medical information
If you’re comfortable with the quote, you can proceed with a formal application. The application will ask detailed questions about your medical history. Depending on your health profile and the coverage amount, you may also need to undergo a medical exam. This exam typically involves basic checks like blood pressure, blood and urine samples, and height and weight measurements.
- Underwriting and risk assessment
An underwriter will review your application and medical information to assess your risk profile. This determines your eligibility and, if approved, the premium rate you’ll pay. If your health history indicates a higher risk, the underwriter may apply a rating, which is an increase in your premium to reflect the additional risk.
- Policy review and approval
Upon approval, you’ll receive a copy of the policy documents for careful review. This ensures you understand the terms and conditions of your coverage before accepting it.
- Payment and coverage activation
Once you accept the policy and pay the initial premium, your critical illness coverage with BMO becomes active. Now you have peace of mind knowing you’re financially protected in the face of a critical illness diagnosis.
Need A BMO Critical Illness Insurance Quote?
Critical illness insurance is a vital tool for safeguarding you and your loved ones’ financial well-being during a challenging time. BMO Insurance’s Living Benefit plan offers comprehensive coverage, flexible options, and valuable support services to help you navigate a critical illness diagnosis.
Whether you have questions about Living Benefit or want to explore your critical illness insurance options in general, we’re here to help. Contact us today at info@briansoinsurance.com or 604-928-1628 for a no-obligation, free consultation!
You can also get a personalized quote quickly and easily. Simply fill out the form below and we’ll send it straight to your inbox.
Taking the first step towards critical illness protection is easy. Don’t wait—contact us today and ensure you have a financial buffer in place for the future.
Get Your Critical Illness Insurance Quote Now
While we make every effort to keep our site updated, please be aware that timely information on this page, such as quote estimates, or pertinent details about companies, may only be accurate as of its last edit day. Brian So Insurance and its representatives do not give legal or tax advice. Please consult your own legal or tax adviser. This post is a brief summary for indicative purposes only. It does not include all terms, conditions, limitations, exclusions, and other provisions of the policies described, some of which may be material to the policy selection. Please refer to the actual policy documents for complete details which can be provided upon request. In case of any discrepancy, the language in the actual policy documents will prevail. A.M. Best financial strength ratings displayed are not a warranty of a company’s financial strength and ability to meet its obligations to policyholders.
