A terminally ill cancer patient is touting the importance of life insurance.
As advisors struggle to get through to Canadians about the need for life insurance, one brave, terminally ill cancer patient is doing her part to educate Canadians.
“If I didn’t have life insurance before this, I wouldn’t be able to get it,” Tanya Lafleur said to Canoe News. “Just because you’re young — anything can happen.”
The 35 year old from Welland is fighting a battle against a terminal form of cancer so rare that it hasn’t been assigned a name yet.
But Lafleur is finding solace that her husband and 17-month-old daughter, Magen, will be taken care of because they were prepared in case of the unthinkable.
It’s a message that advisors and the industry have long been trying to get out to the public with lacklustre results.
Life insurance ownership in Canada has hit a 30-year low. Almost 3 in 10 households carry no life insurance on anyone in the household, and 45 per cent of Canadian households now believe they are underinsured.
Six million Canadian households have unmet life insurance needs: 45 per cent say they do not have enough life insurance. Even among households with $100,000 or more of annual income, one third of them believe that they are inadequately insured.
“It does represent a significant opportunity for brokers,” said Steve Carter, senior vice president for product management and development at BMO Insurance. “It ties in with the fact that Canadians by and large are underinsured. Not enough of them have life insurance, not enough have disability insurance and clearly not enough have critical illness coverage. The opportunity is there.”
“If I didn’t have life insurance before this, I wouldn’t be able to get it,” Tanya Lafleur said to Canoe News. “Just because you’re young — anything can happen.”
The 35 year old from Welland is fighting a battle against a terminal form of cancer so rare that it hasn’t been assigned a name yet.
But Lafleur is finding solace that her husband and 17-month-old daughter, Magen, will be taken care of because they were prepared in case of the unthinkable.
It’s a message that advisors and the industry have long been trying to get out to the public with lacklustre results.
Life insurance ownership in Canada has hit a 30-year low. Almost 3 in 10 households carry no life insurance on anyone in the household, and 45 per cent of Canadian households now believe they are underinsured.
Six million Canadian households have unmet life insurance needs: 45 per cent say they do not have enough life insurance. Even among households with $100,000 or more of annual income, one third of them believe that they are inadequately insured.
“It does represent a significant opportunity for brokers,” said Steve Carter, senior vice president for product management and development at BMO Insurance. “It ties in with the fact that Canadians by and large are underinsured. Not enough of them have life insurance, not enough have disability insurance and clearly not enough have critical illness coverage. The opportunity is there.”
