Courtney,

Yes, you can purchase it as a separate policy through most life insurance brokers.

Gary,

Canadians have great medical coverage but not everything is included like disability insurance. I always tell people to check their benefits package.

Good to know about that Barry! Going on maternity leave will hopefully be part of my plan in the future 🙂 I’ll know not to cancel my disability insurance!

Abigail,

Yes way too many people don’t realize how important it is to have disability insurance. We all think we’ll be healthy and when we actually need it, it may be too late to get insured.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get disability insurance. They wanted a lot of money (understandable, since I was on disability for a few years) and they wouldn’t make it occupation specific. So they wouldn’t pay out as long as they thought I could still work any job. And with chronic fatigue, it’s hard to convince companies/bureaucracies of what you can and can’t manage.

bigcajunman,

Agreed. I didn’t put much though into disability until I really understood what it covered. Fortunately my employer has a good insurance plan that keeps me covered.

Jaymee,

STD/LTD and critical illness are often overlooked. Some female employees will cancel their work benefits while on maternity to save money figuring their private life insurance is good enough. In the process they end up cancelling their disability plans which is a huge mistake.