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Desjardins Critical Illness Insurance Review – Updated 2024

SUMMARY

Desjardin offers many options for critical illness coverage and term length, but partial payouts count toward your overall payout. Products include up to $3,000,000 for 26 conditions and generous partial payout for 16 conditions for 10, 20-year terms, or up to 65/75 years of age. Other features include a 0-day survival period for most conditions (how long you must survive with the illness before you can collect your benefit).

IN THIS ARTICLE

Desjardins critical illness insurance rating and review

Desjardins’ Health Priorities product offers prospective clients a lot of choice in coverage and term. It covers more illnesses for partial payment than most other companies in Canada. However, partial payments count as an advance against your overall payout.

PolicyAdvisor Rating

Best For Extensive Coverage

AM Best Rating N/A

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Pros and cons

Pros

  • The highest number of conditions covered (26 full payout illnesses)
  • Generous partial benefit payouts (most number of covered partial conditions)
  • Multiple coverage amounts and multiple terms possible
  • No survival period on most conditions (except cardiovascular)
  • Permanent coverage and limited pay options available
  • Children’s coverage available
  • Digital e-policy

Cons

  • No online access
  • Partial payment is an advance and reduces overall coverage
  • No second event coverage: Policy terminates after first claim payout
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Who is Desjardins?

Headquartered in Quebec, Desjardins Group is North America’s largest federation of credit unions and has served Canadians since 1901. Desjardins is a household name in Canada in everyday banking,  lending, and other financial services.

Desjardins was one of the first financial institutions in Canada to offer responsible investing and sustainable growth products and have made these options available to their customers for over 30 years.

Desjarsins is committing over $2 billion to renewable technologies, as well as installing over 200 electric vehicle charging stations in Quebec and Ontario and offering 25 new responsible investment products to their customers.

Types of critical illness insurance policies Desjardins Insurance offers

Yes. Desjardins’ critical illness insurance product is named Health Priorities. It offers Enhanced Coverage (covering 26 illnesses).

Benefits of term life insurance
Product Name Health Priorities
Critical Illness coverage Enhanced Coverage
Available Terms 10 years, 20 years, and to age 65, 75
Limited Pay option 10 and 20 Pay, and Pay to 100 options are available on permanent policies
Maximum coverage Up to $3 million
Conditions covered Enhanced – 26 conditions
Loss of Independent Existence coverage Yes
Partial payout conditions 16 eligible conditions plus 1 extra condition. Pays an advance for partial payout conditions, which reduces the coverage amount correspondingly
Partial payment or early detection payment Yes, 15% up to a maximum of $50,000, or 30% up to a maximum of $100,000 depending on illness
Childhood illnesses coverage Yes
Survival period 0 days for most conditions, except 30 days for a a cardiovascular issue
Return of Premium on death Yes
Return of Premium on expiry/cancellation Yes, amount increases from the 4th year of coverage onwards
Second option None
Electronic application No
Online account access None
Electronic policy delivery Yes

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Coverage and policy details

Desjardins’ maximum coverage for critical illness insurance is $3-million. It covers 26 critical illnesses, which is one of the highest in the industry

There offer coverage for loss of independent existence. They offer partial payouts for 16 different conditions. The payout is typically 15% of the policy up to $50,000, though they also offer a 1% payout for certain cancers up to a max of $5,000.

The survival period (how long you must survive with the illness before you can collect your benefit) is 0 days for most conditions, though they do have a 30-day wait for those who suffer from cardiovascular conditions.

Desjardins offers critical illness insurance for 10- and 20-year terms or coverage up to 65 or 75 years of age and permanent critical illness coverage.

10 and 20 pay options are available for permanent products.

Does Desjardins critical illness insurance offer a return of premiums?

Desjardins offers a return of premiums on death and a return of premium on expiry or cancellation from the 4th year of your coverage period onwards.

How do I apply for critical illness insurance?

You can speak to advisors from the best online life insurance broker in Canada to find the best critical illness insurance product for your needs. If you prefer, you can enter your information and look up quotes here or schedule a call with one of our licensed brokers to apply for Desjardin’s critical illness insurance.

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The information above is intended for informational purposes only and is based on PolicyAdvisor’s own views, which are subject to change without notice. This content is not intended and should not be construed to constitute financial or legal advice. PolicyAdvisor accepts no responsibility for the outcome of people choosing to act on the information contained on this website. PolicyAdvisor makes every effort to include updated, accurate information. The above content may not include all terms, conditions, limitations, exclusions, termination, 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. In case of any discrepancy, the language in the actual policy documents will prevail. A.M. Best financial strength ratings displayed above are not a warranty of a company’s financial strength and ability to meet its obligations to policyholders. All rights reserved.

If something in this article needs to be corrected, updated, or removed, let us know. Email editorial@policyadvisor.com.

By Jiten Puri
CEO & Founder, Insurance Advisor, LLQP
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