Most Canadians expect they will need to dig into their savings and investments to finance expenses incurred from a critical illness, according to a new survey funded by Manulife Financial.

The survey notes that 71% of Canadians are unfamiliar with critical illness insurance.

“This reconfirms our belief that Canadians need to learn more about the financial benefits critical illness insurance can provide,” said Michael Doughty, vice president, individual life marketing and product development, in a news release.

Among those surveyed who expect to pay extra recovery expenses, 23% said they would likely tap into their RRSPs to do so.

“More and more Canadians are realizing that a serious illness can be very disruptive to a family’s finances,” said Paul Rooney, senior vice president, individual insurance. “Critical illness coverage gives our customers a simple, hassle-free way to obtain a level of financial protection that is not available through their life insurance policies.”

This type of insurance eases the financial burden of a life-altering illness by providing a lump-sum cash payment upon survival of a waiting period (30 days in most cases) after the diagnosis of one of several critical illnesses. People use the proceeds to finance other treatments, hire a nurse, pay off a mortgage, replace lost income, maintain RRSP contributions, or take a vacation to help them recover from their illness, for example.

Manulife’s Lifecheque policies offer protection against cancer, heart attack, stroke and coronary bypass surgery, which represent about 83% of the critical illness cases in Canada. However, depending on the insured person’s age and coverage chosen, Lifecheque policies may cover up to 18 critical conditions.

The poll for Manulife, conducted by Market Facts between April 17 and April 21, 2002 surveyed 1,002 Canadians aged 18 and older. The results have a margin of error of +/- three per cent, 19 times out of 20.