CI debate catches fire in Talvest Town Hall

(May 16, 2003) A lively and informative debate on the merits of critical illness insurance dominated Advisor.ca’s Talvest Town Hall this week. The discussion began after a participant in the online forum pointed to a newspaper article describing CI as a “waste of money.”

That prompted Brad Brain to explain why he likes CI, going as far as to provide detailed information about his own policy. “Bottom line is if I get cancer, I don’t want to have a $5,000 per month DI [disability insurance] benefit cheque as my only income,” he wrote.

“I don’t think CI is a waste of money,” Brain added. “I think it’s a pretty damn smart thing to do. And, in my opinion, it’s pretty good to have CI in the financial planning toolkit.”

Lawrence Geller, calling the CI thread “fascinating,” noted that some people who are suffering from an eligible critical illness may not qualify for disability benefits. “In my personal opinion, neither is a substitute for the other.”

“From a legal perspective, I think an advisor would be remiss if he did not point out that CI was available to insure a client’s financial risk or exposure,” wrote Jim Bullock.

A proposal to create a life-insurance specific professional association also sparked discussion this week in the Town Hall.

“Beam me up, Scotty,” wrote Jeremy Amott. “I hope you guys can get this group going for the insurance people.”

But not everyone is pleased with the growing fragmentation on the association side of the industry. “I believe it’s ludicrous to be promoting yet another association when we should be advocating one professional body with teeth that can deal with issues,” said Malcolm Smith.

“The desire by individuals to carve out their own little fiefdoms does neither the public nor advisors any benefit,” Smith went on to say.

Weigh in on CI, discuss the proposed life-only association or start a new topic in the “Free For All” forum of the Talvest Town Hall on Advisor.ca.

Filed by Doug Watt, Advisor.ca, dwatt@advisor.ca