A series of conversations about the benefits and complexities of Critical Illness insurance

At Munich Re, we're committed to supporting the success of insurance carriers and helping them serve the evolving needs of Canadians. Through this discussion series, we'll tackle some of the key questions and challenges our clients face, with the goal of collaborating as an industry to develop critical illness insurance products that meet the needs of Canadians while ensuring long-term sustainability for insurers and reinsurers. 

Chapter 4: What does the future hold?

The CI insurance industry continually looks for ways to optimize value while reducing complexity, but it’s not an easy task. Conveying that coverage applies to very specific critical illnesses is crucial. Maintaining strict definitions of "critical" is one way to do this; reduced payouts for less severe cases is another, i.e., a $100,000 policy paying $50,000 for early-stage cancer. Whichever approach is taken the insurer needs to consider the trade-off between the value and the affordability of the product. Diagnostic and treatment advances will also change how we offer CI products. Since trying to future-proof is an exceedingly difficult task, we feel the fate of CI hinges on education.