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Did you know that the average length of a disability over 90 days is 5.75 years? Could you cover your day-to-day expenses if you can’t work? That is unlikely unless you have disability insurance.
A long-term disability insurance policy works when you can’t. If an accident or sickness prevents you from working, disability insurance can provide a monthly benefit to help pay for your living expenses.
But with so many insurance companies, how do you know which policy is right for you? In this post, we review the disability insurance policies offered by Humania Assurance and tell you they stack up against the competition.
About Humania Assurance
Founded in 1874, Humania Assurance is one of the oldest insurance companies in Canada. Originally called L’Union Saint-Joseph de Saint-Hyacinthe, the company went through numerous name and structural changes to become a mutual insurance company, which is owned entirely by its policyholders.
Humania Assurance offers many insurance solutions for Canadians, including life insurance, critical illness insurance, health insurance, and disability insurance. One of its standout products is insurance without medical exam, where you can instantly get coverage by answering only six eligibility questions.
Although it costs more than an underwritten policy, insurance without medical exam allows people who have been declined insurance another chance to get life, disability, and critical illness insurance coverage.
Key facts about Humania Assurance
AM Best Rating: Not rated
Head office: 1555 Girouard West Street, Saint-Hyacinthe, QC, J2S 2Z6
Contact phone number: 1-800-773-8404
What Disability Insurance Plans Does Humania Insurance Offer?
Humania Assurance offers many disability policies that cover injuries and illnesses. Here is a brief description of each and their pros and cons.
Prohealth Income Insurance - Accident & Sickness
As an income insurance product, this aims to replace your income if you become disabled due to an injury or illness. The monthly payments will help cover your bills, rent or mortgage, groceries, and medical expenses to relieve the financial stress of a disability.
Whether you’re self-employed, an incorporated small business owner, or don’t have disability insurance through your employer, an income replacement disability policy is what you need to protect your income-earning ability.
- Pros:
- It accepts all occupations, even ones with a hazardous workplace or income instability.
- Although premiums can increase, they are guaranteed not to change for the first five years, giving you some cost certainty.
- Even if you don't qualify for sickness benefits, you can still get coverage for accidents.
- Cons:
- The return of premium rider is very expensive to add, resulting in the cost tripling in some cases.
- It doesn't let you pick and choose the riders you want. Instead, they are pre-packaged in different plans.
- A full medical underwriting process may make qualifying for coverage difficult, especially if you have a pre-existing condition.
Prohealth Income Insurance - Accident
If you were declined accident and sickness insurance because of a medical condition, you could still get accident-only coverage.
- Pros:
- You only have to answer one health question to qualify, and you can be covered instantly.
- There is no medical exam required to get coverage.
- Premiums are guaranteed for the first five years of the policy.
- Cons:
- Since illnesses cause most disabilities, an accident-only policy doesn't give you complete coverage.
- Although soft tissue injuries are covered, benefits are limited to 60 days per episode to a maximum of 365 days per policy.
- There is only a six-month coverage period for partial disabilities.
Prohealth Payment Insurance - Accident & Sickness
Unlike the previous two products that pay a benefit proportional to your income, this one covers your expenses. As a reimbursement disability insurance policy, the monthly benefit you receive must be used to pay for recurring expenses like utilities, phone, internet, childcare expenses, mortgage, car loans, etc.
- Pros:
- Get up to $10,000 of monthly benefits without proof of income.
- Combine your business overhead expenses and personal expenses in a single disability insurance policy.
- You can receive benefits on the first day of hospitalization (stay of at least 18 hours) or day surgery.
- Cons:
- Humania Assurance may pay less than the amount you bought if you can't submit evidence of your monthly expenses.
- The premium may increase upon renewal, although it is guaranteed for the first five years.
- Coverage for partial disabilities for only up to 12 months.
Insurance Without Medical Exam - Income Insurance
Declined for disability insurance? You can still get disability insurance through the Insurance Without Medical Exam product. Whether your work is precarious, you travel to dangerous areas, have had financial troubles, or have medical issues, Humania Assurance makes it easy for you to get coverage.
- Pros:
- Easily add life and critical illness insurance without answering any other questions.
- Since there's no medical exam and only six questions, you are protected immediately if you are eligible.
- A term-10 or term-20 option helps keep the premium payment low.
- Cons:
- Because the maximum monthly benefit is $2,500, it doesn't adequately replace the earnings of a high-income individual.
- The benefit period tops out at 24 months, so it won't protect you from a long-term disability.
- A pre-existing condition clause means you can't claim disability benefits from a pre-existing condition in the first 12 or 24 months of the policy.
Insurance Without Medical Exam - Debt Insurance
Like the Income Insurance option above, debt insurance is also designed for people who have trouble obtaining traditional disability insurance coverage. However, you would use debt insurance to cover your debts instead of replacing your income. This means you need to have debt for the policy to pay a benefit.
- Pros:
- Unlike your lender's creditor insurance, you are the owner of debt insurance. This means you can keep the coverage even if you change lenders.
- Debt insurance will cover your rent payments even if you don't have a mortgage.
- No medical exam is required, which is ideal if you want to avoid having one done.
- Cons:
- Because there are no occupation classes, an insured person would pay the same whether he works in a low or high-risk occupation. As a result, it won't offer the lowest cost for someone in a low-risk occupation.
- Like income insurance, the maximum monthly benefit is $2,500. If your debts are much greater than this amount, this debt insurance product won't cover you adequately.
- For the same amount of coverage, debt insurance costs more than income insurance.
ASSURE-DEBT
As another debt insurance product, ASSURE-DEBT reimburses you for your debt payments if you become disabled in your occupation due to an injury or illness.
- Pros:
- It covers business loans, unlike Insurance Without Medical Exam - Debt Insurance.
- Choose a benefit period of age 65 to give you coverage against permanent disabilities.
- You can customize the coverage with many optional riders, like regular occupation, guaranteed insurability, and partial disability.
- Cons:
- The maximum benefit amount is $2,000/month, which like Insurance Without Medical Exam, is too low for people with larger loan payments.
- Although it also covers rent, it only does so for two years.
- As an older product, Humania may not focus on it extensively. Instead, it has shifted its resources to the Prohealth line of disability products.
Here is a table comparing the products side by side:
Prohealth – Income Insurance – Accident and Sickness | Prohealth – Income Insurance – Accident | Prohealth – Payment Insurance – Accident and Sickness | Insurance Without Medical Exam – Income Insurance | Insurance Without Medical Exam – Debt Insurance | ASSURE-DEBT | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Target market | Accessible coverage for employed and unemployed individuals | Accident coverage for all types of risks, including traditional workers, seasonal workers, unemployed, students, hard to insure, and those with a limited budget
| Accident and sickness coverage that reimburses your debt payments and business overhead expenses upon a disability. | People who need income replacement insurance and have been declined disability insurance for medical or other issues | People who need debt insurance and have been declined disability insurance for medical or other issues | An alternative to creditor insurance that covers your debts with a flexible range of options |
Covers | Injury or illness | Accidents and soft tissue injuries | Injury or illness | |||
Definition of disability | Regular occupation for three years (can be extended to the entire benefit period) | Regular occupation for three years | Regular occupation for three years (can be extended to the entire benefit period) | Regular occupation for 24 months | Regular occupation for 24 months (can be extended to the entire benefit period) | |
Age eligibility | 18-64 | 18-69 | 18-64 | 18-55 | 18-59 | |
Occupation classes | Unlisted | None | 4A, 3A, 2A, 1A, B, C | |||
Occupation class upgrades | No, although there is a discount for employment stability | No | Yes | |||
Waiting period | 14, 30, 90, or 120 days | 1, 14, 30, 90, or 120 days | 30, 60, or 90 days | 90 days | 30, 60, or 90 days | |
Benefit period | Two, five years, to age 65 | Two, five years, to age 70 | One, two, three, five years, to age 65 | 24 months | 12 or 24 months | Two, five years, to age 65 |
Minimum coverage | $500 | $400 | ||||
Maximum coverage | $6,000 | $10,000 | $2,500 | $2,000 | ||
Medical exam required | Yes, above a certain age and amount | No | Yes, above a certain age and amount | No | ||
Premium guarantee | Guaranteed for the first five years, can increase after that | Increases every 10 or 20 years as chosen at policy issue | Not guaranteed | |||
Expiry | Age 100 | Age 65 | ||||
Riders | Accidental death and dismemberment, premium refund | Partial disability, premium refund, additional insurance option, regular occupation | Premium refund | Life insurance, guaranteed insurability, partial disability, premium refund, retroactive benefit, occupational HIV | ||
How Much Does Humania Disability Insurance Cost?
The cost of disability insurance depends on many personal factors, including age, gender, smoking status, and occupation. In addition, the plan design of the coverage also affects the cost. For example, a higher benefit amount will cost more than a lower benefit, while a shorter waiting period will also cost more than a longer one.
Therefore, comparing disability insurance premiums can be challenging. We will use a sample insured person to give you a general sense of how much it costs. This person works in a low-risk occupation like an engineer and will buy $5,000/month in benefits with a 90-day waiting period and an age 65 benefit period. Below is a table showing how much Prohealth Income Insurance covering accidents and sickness will cost for this person.
Age | Male | Female |
|---|---|---|
25 | $69 | $88 |
30 | $87 | $108 |
35 | $109 | $132 |
40 | $149 | $176 |
45 | $204 | $234 |
50 | $258 | $293 |
55 | $327 | $367 |
Verdict: Our Humania Disability Insurance Review
Should you buy disability insurance from Humania Assurance? It depends on your needs. Because Humania Assurance offers many options for disability insurance, there is a suitable product for almost everybody. Self-employed or don’t have coverage through your employer? Prohealth Income Insurance is right for you. Declined due to a medical condition? Consider Insurance Without Medical Exam.
Below, we list some pros and cons of Humania Assurance disability insurance to help you decide whether you should get a policy.
- Pros:
- Unlike other insurance companies, where you have to get a quote from an insurance agent, Humania Assurance offers an online quoting option.
- Although you still have to buy disability coverage through an insurance agent, you can use an online application to save time—no more 40-page application forms.
- Humania Assurance allows you to remit your monthly premium payment via credit card.
- Get a discount if you earned $35,000 in the past two years ($60,000 for white-collar workers) and have three years of experience in the same occupation.
- The Prohealth lineup includes critical illness insurance, so you don't have to buy a separate insurance policy.
- A waiver for the waiting period, so benefits are payable from the first day if you are hospitalized.
- Cons:
- For the uninitiated, the lineup of disability insurance products can be confusing and overwhelming.
- Humania does not offer non-cancellable disability policies. As a result, premiums are not guaranteed and can rise upon renewal.
- Humania also does not offer the own occupation definition of a disability.
How Do You Sign Up For Humania Disability Insurance?
Although Humania Assurance does not let you buy disability insurance directly from them, you can do an online application through an insurance agent. While this can be less convenient than going direct, the online application shouldn’t take more than 30 minutes. Besides, an insurance advisor can assess your financial and personal situation to determine the best coverage for you.
After you complete the online application, an underwriter will review your medical history, health, lifestyle, and finances to determine if you are eligible for coverage. If you are getting one of the Prohealth products, you may need a medical exam. However, you can bypass this step if you opt for one of the Insurance Without Medical Exam products.
The entire process can take a few weeks to over a month for a Prohealth policy, while you can be protected immediately with an Insurance Without Medical Exam policy.
Need A Humania Disability Insurance Quote?
Whether it’s due to an accident or sickness, a long-term disability can strike at any time. In fact, a disability is more common than you think, with the odds being one in three that you’ll be disabled for 90 days or longer before age 65.
A disability policy is one way to protect against this risk. But should you get one from Humania Assurance? We will help analyze your needs and design a disability policy that works for you, whether with Humania or another insurance company.
Don’t let another day go by without protection against the risk of a disability. Contact us today at info@briansoinsurance.com or 604-928-1628 for a free consultation and quote.
Get Your Disability 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.
