Individual Insurance
Individual insurance is a personal policy purchased directly from an insurance company to provide financial protection for a single person or family, rather than through an employer or group plan. It allows you to customize coverage according to your health needs, lifestyle, and budget. Common types of individual insurance include health, dental, life, critical illness, and disability coverage.
How It Works
With individual insurance, you are the policy holder, buying it is a personal choice with no legal requirement to obtain it, and you can shop around to select both the provider and the coverage you purchase. It is private coverage you choose and pay for directly, rather than a group employee benefits program offered automatically through your job. Unlike group insurance offered automatically through employment, an individual plan often requires an application process that may include medical underwriting or health questionnaires. Once approved, the policy remains in effect as long as premiums are paid, even if you change jobs or retire, making it especially valuable for self-employed individuals, retirees, or anyone not eligible for group benefits. Individual health insurance fills the gaps left by Canada's provincial coverage, especially for things like dental, vision, prescriptions, and paramedical services such as massage therapy, chiropractors, and physiotherapy.
Example:
If you leave your job and lose your employer's group benefits, you can apply for an individual health and dental policy in Canada to keep coverage for prescription drugs, dental cleanings and fillings, eye exams and glasses, and paramedical services like physiotherapy that your provincial health plan does not cover. Because you are the policy holder, the coverage stays in force as long as you pay the premiums, even after you change jobs or retire.
What to Watch For:
If you were previously insured under a group benefits program, you typically have a defined timeframe, usually 30 to 90 days and varying by insurer, in which you have a conversion privilege to move to an individual plan. Applying within 60 to 90 days of losing group coverage may allow you to avoid full medical underwriting on an individual health and dental plan. An individual application may still include medical underwriting or health questionnaires before you are approved.
