Life Insurance Distribution Channels in Canada

Life insurance in Canada is called primarily through three distribution channels.

1. Captive agents – Captive agents are life insurance advisors who provide life and living benefit products primarily through one carrier. In certain instances, the agent's company is allowed to offer products with other carriers if the primary carrier does not offer them.

Captive Life insurance agents often have a keen understanding of their product offering, given that they're only offering insurance through one carrier. However, on the downside, the premiums are frequently uncompetitive.

How TD’s 10 Year Term Life Insurance Policy Compares to their Competition

Toronto Dominion's 10-year term life insurance policy is offered through its TD Life Insurance Division. The policy is available in face amounts of $50,000 to $5 million, and the premiums are fixed for the first ten policy years.

The following chart compares TD Bank's Term 10 Life Insurance Policy against RBC Insurance and BMO Insurance:

Understanding Accidental Death Insurance

Accidental death insurance pays a lump sum should the insured pass away by accident, as defined by the life insurance policy. Many policies specify that the insured must die within 90 days of the accident or be 70 years or younger at the time of accident. Injuries or accidental death caused by acts of war, illegal activity and non-commercial radiation are also usually not covered.

Accidental death insurance can be sold on its own (as is the case with many lending institutions in Canada and credit card companies) or it can be added as a benefit to an existing life insurance policy. When added as a benefit, it's often referred to as double indemnity coverage. This means that if the insured dies by accident, double the policy face amount is paid out.

For more details on accidental death insurance in Canada, please contact us at 1-866-899-4849, or visit our Term Life Insurance Instant Quote Page.

Term Life Insurance Facts

Term life insurance can be the easiest and most straightforward type of life insurance policy. These policies have term lengths that can range anywhere from five years to age 100. The following are seven term life insurance facts you should be aware of:

1. Premiums are based on the insured's age, gender, and smoking status. All things being equal, the older the insured, the higher the premium, and males always pay more than females. Other variables that can influence the insured's premiums are the type of plan and the length of the term. Longer term policies have higher initial premiums than those with shorter terms.

2. Life insurance companies who are members of Assuris carry an additional guarantee in case of insolvency. Assuris guarantees the greater of 85% of either the policy face amount or 200,000 in case the insurance company becomes insolvent.

3. Term life policies come in two types, level term and decreasing term. Level Term policies have a level death benefit and level premiums for a stated term. A decreasing term policy has a decreasing benefit and a level premium for the stated term. Level Term policies have a higher initial premium than Decreasing Term plans.

Insurance Medical Exams: Electrocardiogram Test

Electrocardiogram or ECG tests are completed on older applicants or those with past health history. It's also required on some policies with higher face amounts. The test can be completed at a client's home or office, but a couch or a bed must be available to complete this test. An ECG will take approximately 20 minutes to complete.

Additionally, the ECG is complemented by a paramedical and blood profile test, which will add approximately 45 minutes to the test, and the insured should block off at least an hour for the nurse's visit. In order to make sure the insured has his or her best test results, he or she should be in comfortable clothes and a peaceful setting.

 Improving your ECG results, starts with improving the health of your heart, and you can do that by doing the following:

Insurance Medical Tests: Saliva Samples

Insurance-related saliva samples are collected on smaller policy face amounts where a blood test and/or urine sample are not required.

In some instances, as is the same for a urine test, the agent/broker can complete the saliva test as an alternative to the nurse. The procedure takes approximately five minutes to complete and checks for the following:

Insurance Medical Exams: Urine Tests

Urine tests are completed on many traditional life insurance applications. In some instances, the insurance agent or independent broker can collect the urine test rather than a nurse. However, in either case, a permission slip is filled out and completed by the insured before the urine sample can be collected. The urine test takes approximately ten minutes for completion.

Some of the health dangers tested for by the insurance company in any urine test include the following:

Insurance Medical Exams: Blood Profile Test

(WRITER'S NOTE: The following article is the first to kick off a new section on this site detailing exactly what insurance companies are looking for during those customary medical tests that play a large role in determining whether you are qualified or disqualified from certain insurance policies. Read on to find out exactly what to expect.)

Most insurance applications with medical tests include blood tests. Insurance companies will generally ask for blood tests on almost all applications where the face amount exceeds 250,000. They are also more likely to ask for blood tests when preferred rates are offered. Preferred rates are cheaper monthly payments given to applicants in very good health and with very good family health history. However, in those cases, the insurance company also verifies more health details and usually requires more intrusive medical tests to get the preferred rates.

Blood tests enable the insurance company to verify if the insured is in truly optimal health. The nurse completing the blood test will have the insured sign a permission slip. They will generally obtain three vials of blood (approximately 25ccs) and a urine sample. The blood profile procedure takes approximately 15 minutes to complete and the test will most likely screen for the following red flags:

BMO Insurance Lowers Term 10 and Term 20 Rates

On May 16, 2011, BMO Insurance lowered their term rates.

This is great news since BMO's Term 10 and Term 20 plans are among the best priced plans in the Canadian insurance market.

The policies offer the following built-in features:

• A discount for non-smokers
• Preferred rates are offered to both non-smokers and smokers in good health and with very good family health history
• The plans are guaranteed renewable. Like most companies, BMO Insurance builds a cushion into its renewal premium, so if the insured is in good health at renewal, they would be better off applying for a new policy
• The policy is also guaranteed convertible to a Permanent plan without a medical, which is convenient since BMO has an excellent permanent lineup. They are one of the few companies that didn't raise rates on their level cost Universal Life plan and, even under those circumstances, the policy still comes with over 400 investment options.
• Multi-life discounts are available, as well as critical illness riders

However, the one thing you should take note of is that The BMO Term rate reduction does not apply to their 30-year term plan.

For more details on term life rates in Canada, please call us at 1-866-899-4849 or visit our Term Life Insurance Quote Page.

Equitable Life Universal Life Insurance Solutions

Equitable Life offers two very unique Universal Life solutions. Their Equation Generation IV offers a traditional universal life plan for clients who want a low-cost permanent life insurance solution. Yet, unlike other plans, it comes with a tax-deferred investment component.

The plan allows the client to choose between a bonus and low-fee policy option. The low-fee policy option offers lower management fees that immediately enhance the return of investment on the policy.

They also offer an EquiLife limited-pay universal life plan. The cost of insurance options on their universal life policies range from a yearly-renewable term, to a yearly-renewable term to age 85, and finally, a level cost of insurance for the life of the policy. But they are not done yet; Equitable Life also offers an EquiLife policy with the following four cost of insurance options to choose from: