Critical Illness Insurance

To help meet the costs associated with surviving a serious illness, you and your spouse may apply for benefit amounts between $25,000 and $1 million for either of two coverage types:

Click here for the complete definitions of the covered conditions

Return of premiums – If you die of any cause while your coverage is in force, and have not received (or were not eligible for) payment of the Critical Illness benefit under this Plan, your beneficiary or estate will receive a death benefit equal to 100% of the premiums you paid for this coverage.

Waiver of premiums – Your coverage continues at no charge to you if you remain totally disabled for 3 continuous months before age 65.

Health Service Navigator^® (Included at no extra cost ) – You and your family members can quickly and easily get answers to your medical questions and access to support services. Access isn’t dependent upon making a claim – it’s available immediately not only for you the insured, but for all of your eligible family members too!   

Health Service Navigator^®  is managed by a team of professionals, so you can be sure that the information and resources it provides are credible and current.

How Health Service Navigator can help you and your family

• Your doctor has made a diagnosis, but you want a second opinion.
• You want to know how long you will have to wait for surgery and whether there is a faster way to get it.
• You want more information about a prescription drug.
• You need to find a family doctor available in your area..
• You want to make the most of your appointment with a new medical specialist.
• You need to know what health resources are available in your area.
• You can find out what health expenses are covered under your provincial health plan.
• You want to understand a medical condition and your treatment options.

Available on-line or by calling a dedicated representative - You can receive information, medical coordination services and resources on how to navigate the Canadian health care system. And, if you want a second opinion from a world-class hospital, Health Service Navigator^®  will help you get it too. www.manulifehealth.ca

Coverage is NOT available to any applicant who has had any of the following pre-existing conditions or procedures:

• Active hepatitis
• AIDS or AIDS-related disease
• Alcohol abuse in the past five years
• Alzheimer's disease
• Any heart condition or heart trouble (excluding controlled hypertension)
• Cancer – all cancer except basal cell skin cancer
• Coronary artery bypass surgery
• Diabetes
• Heart attack
• Huntington's chorea
• Kidney disease – other than kidney stones or a history of kidney infection
• Lou Gehrig's disease – amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)
• Major organ transplant recipient
• Multiple sclerosis
• Permanent paralysis (paraplegia, quadriplegia) – other than Bell's Palsy
• Pulmonary fibrosis
• Stroke – cerebrovascular accident
• Transient Ischemic Attack

Life-threatening cancer exclusions
The following cancers are excluded from Critical Illness coverage:

• Cancer in situ;
• T1A and T1B prostate cancer;
• Any skin cancer, other than invasive malignant melanoma to a Breslow depth greater than 0.75mm;
• Pre-malignant lesions, benign tumours or polyps;
• Any tumour in the presence of any human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).

Subject to the above definition, no Critical Illness benefit for cancer will be payable if a diagnosis of any type of cancer is made within ninety (90) days of the date of approval of coverage or of a reinstatement, or if such diagnosis is made as the result of symptoms present within that period.

Furthermore, no benefits will be payable for a subsequent diagnosis of any cancer or other Covered Conditions directly resulting from any cancer or its treatment. Any diagnosis of any type of cancer or symptoms leading to such diagnosis occurring within this period must be reported to the Company in writing within six (6) months of diagnosis. If you fail to disclose this information, we have the right to deny any claim under this coverage.

Heart attack (myocardial infarction) exclusions
Excludes minor heart attacks that do not meet all of the following criteria at the same time:

• New episode of typical chest pain or equivalent symptoms; and
• Resulting from the blockage of one or more coronary arteries; and
• New electrocardiographic changes indicative of myocardial infarction; and
• Biochemical evidence of myocardial necrosis including elevated cardiac enzymes and/or troponin.

Stroke exclusions
Transient Ischemic Attacks (TIA) and neurological deficits caused by external trauma are specifically excluded.

Coronary artery bypass surgery exclusions
This excludes non-surgical techniques such as balloon angioplasty or laser relief of an obstruction.

Paralysis exclusions
All psychiatric-related causes are specifically excluded.

Loss of speech exclusions
All cases associated with psychiatric disorders are specifically excluded.

Aortic surgery exclusions
Surgery for diseases of the branches of the thoracic or abdominal aorta, and aortic valve surgery are specifically excluded.

Alzheimer’s disease exclusions
Subject to the definition, all other dementing organic brain disorders and psychiatric illnesses are specifically excluded.

Parkinson’s disease exclusions
Subject to the definition, all other types of Parkinsonism are specifically excluded.

General exclusions
No benefit will be paid if the Insured person, suffers a Covered Condition as a result of intentional self-inflicted injuries, the abuse of alcohol or drugs, committing or attempting to commit a criminal offence, or operating a motor vehicle while the concentration of alcohol in 100 milliliters of blood exceeds 80 milligrams. No benefit will be paid unless the Insured person survives thirty (30) days following the first diagnosis of a covered condition.

You are eligible to apply if you have not had any of the conditions or procedures specified in the “What’s Excluded” section above and are a Canadian resident under 66 years of age (or under age 75 if already insured under this plan). You must also fall under one of the following:

1. Members of the provincial and territorial engineering licensing associations (including members in training). Also, student engineers who are members of a student section (in those associations where a student section exists) and who are within 24 months of expected graduation from a program accredited by the Canadian Engineering Accreditation Board.
2. Members of the provincial associations of technicians and technologists.
3. Members of Geoscientists Nova Scotia.
4. Members of the Association of Professional Geoscientists of Ontario.
5. Members of the Ontario Society of Professional Engineers.
6. Members of l’Ordre des architectes du Québec, the Manitoba Association of Architects, the Newfoundland and Labrador Association of Architects, the Architects’ Association of New Brunswick and the Nova Scotia Association of Architects.
7. Permanent full-time employees of the eligible associations, as defined above, or of Engineers Canada.
8. Limited licensees and retirees.

You may apply for Critical Illness Insurance for your spouse if you are also applying for it or are already insured under this plan.

Life-threatening cancer: A tumour characterized by the uncontrolled growth and spread of malignant cells and the invasion of tissue as confirmed by histological examination of tissue samples.

Heart attack (myocardial infarction): The death of a portion of the heart muscle due to atherosclerotic heart disease. The diagnosis must be based on all of the following criteria occurring at the same time:

• New episode of typical chest pain or equivalent symptoms; and
• Resulting from the blockage of one or more coronary arteries; and
• New electrocardiographic changes indicative of myocardial infarction; and
• Biochemical evidence of myocardial necrosis including elevated cardiac enzymes and/or troponin.

Stroke: A cerebrovascular incident causing infarction of your brain tissue, due to intracranial hemorrhage, thrombosis or embolism, producing a new measurable permanent clinical neurological deficit persisting for at least thirty (30) days following the occurrence of the stroke.

Coronary artery bypass surgery: You have undergone heart surgery to correct narrowing or blockage of one or more coronary arteries with bypass grafts.

Kidney failure: End stage renal disease, due to whatever cause or causes, as a result of which you are undergoing peritoneal dialysis or haemodialysis on a regular basis or have received a transplanted human kidney.

Major organ transplant: You have undergone transplantation of a human heart, liver, lung or kidney due to irreversible failure of such organ, or you have received transplanted human bone marrow.

Blindness: Total and permanent loss of sight in both eyes, as confirmed by a doctor who is a certified ophthalmologist. The corrected visual acuity must be worse than 20/200 in both eyes, or the field of vision must be less than 20 degrees in both eyes.

Deafness: Total, permanent and profound loss of hearing in both ears, with an auditory threshold of 90 decibels or greater within the speech threshold of 500 to 3,000 cycles per second, as confirmed by a doctor who is a certified otolaryngologist, and such loss of hearing cannot be corrected by any hearing aid, implant or device.

Multiple sclerosis: The unequivocal diagnosis of definite multiple sclerosis by a doctor who is a certified neurologist. The diagnosis must be based on well-defined neurological abnormalities on physical examination persisting for a continuous period of at least one hundred and eighty (180) days and confirmed by imaging techniques.

Paralysis: Complete and permanent loss of use of two or more limbs for a continuous period of ninety days following the precipitating event, during which time there has been no sign of improvement.

Coma: A state of unconsciousness, with no reaction to external stimuli or response to internal needs, continuing for at least four (4) days.

Burns: Third degree burns covering at least 20% of the surface area of the body. The diagnosis must be confirmed by a certified plastic surgeon.

Loss of speech: Total and irreversible loss of the ability to speak as the result of physical injury or disease which loss continues for a continuous period of at least one hundred and eighty (180) days.

Loss of limbs: The irreversible severance of two or more limbs at or above a point that is proximal to the wrist or ankle joint as the result of an accident or medically required amputation.

Motor neuron disease: You receive an unequivocal diagnosis, by a doctor who is a certified neurologist, that you have one of the following: amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (A.L.S. or Lou Gehrig’s disease), primary lateral sclerosis, progressive spinal muscular atrophy, progressive bulbar palsy, or pseudo bulbar palsy, and limited to these entities. The diagnosis must be accompanied by typical progressive neurological findings on physical examination for at least one hundred and eighty (180) days.

Aortic surgery: The undergoing of surgery for disease of the thoracic or abdominal aorta, requiring excision of the diseased segment of the aorta and replacement of it with a graft.

Alzheimer’s disease: The definite diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease, by a doctor who is a certified neurologist, with progressive degeneration of the brain, memory and the ability to reason and perceive. You must exhibit the loss of intellectual capacity involving impairment of memory and judgment, which results in such a significant reduction of mental and social functioning as to require continuous daily supervision.

Parkinson’s disease: The diagnosis, by a doctor who is a certified neurologist, of primary idiopathic Parkinson’s disease, characterized by two or more of the following clinical manifestations:

• Muscle rigidity
• Tremor
• Bradykinesis (abnormal slowness of movement, sluggishness of physical and mental responses)

• Active hepatitis
• AIDS or AIDS-related disease
• Alcohol abuse in the past five years
• Alzheimer's disease
• Any heart condition or heart trouble (excluding controlled hypertension)
• Cancer – all cancer except basal cell skin cancer
• Coronary artery bypass surgery
• Diabetes
• Heart attack
• Huntington's chorea
• Kidney disease – other than kidney stones or a history of kidney infection
• Lou Gehrig's disease – amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)
• Major organ transplant recipient
• Multiple sclerosis
• Permanent paralysis (paraplegia, quadriplegia) – other than Bell's Palsy
• Pulmonary fibrosis
• Stroke – cerebrovascular accident
• Transient Ischemic Attack

• Cancer in situ;
• T1A and T1B prostate cancer;
• Any skin cancer, other than invasive malignant melanoma to a Breslow depth greater than 0.75mm;
• Pre-malignant lesions, benign tumours or polyps;
• Any tumour in the presence of any human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).