Is PolicyMe life insurance good for you? Review 2024

Shopping for life insurance is intimidating. There are dozens of insurers and seemingly endless plans. And when you talk to an insurance broker you might face high-pressure sales tactics.

The Canadian insurtech PolicyMe life insurance promises a better way. In this PolicyMe review we’ll take a look at its policies, the pros and cons and why it may be the right life insurance provider for you. 

You can also compare plans from Canada's best life insurance providers using our comparator and get free personalised quotes to help you decide upon a policy that suits you best.

Our PolicyMe life insurance review: Easy-to-buy, instant online policy

PolicyMe was founded in 2018 in a bid to create a more efficient way of offering life insurance. Today, the company is disrupting the life insurance industry in Canada. It sells term life and critical illness policies 100% online that are available in 20 minutes or less.

It streamlines the buying process which traditional insurers bog down with excess paperwork, long waiting times and mandatory medical exams. It has already sold more than $5 billion in policies and partnered with industry veteran Canadian Premier partnership.

Our team found a lot to like about PolicyMe life insurance. We were able to get through the questionnaire in around 10 minutes, a positive experience shared by many customer PolicyMe life insurance reviews.

Getting instant online quotes is a big selling point in an industry that often requires speaking with an agent who upsells products. With PolicyMe, most applicants won’t even need to complete a medical exam. 

Its Term life insurance coverage can cover the needs of most life insurance buyers, but those interested in permanent life insurance coverage should look elsewhere. Unfortunately, the policies are not yet available to buyers in Quebec, New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador.

Finally, policies are extendable or upgradable in the first five years. Let’s take a look at some of PolicyMe’s pros and cons. 

But before you decide upon PolicyMe, we recommend that you consider insurances from other providers. All you need to do is use our comparator below top compare coverage, pros, cons of Canada's best life insurances and also get free personalised quotes in seconds.

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What life insurance products does PolicyMe offer?

PolicyMe offers compelling term life and critical illness insurance. Online application for both is fast and pricing is competitive. 

While some buyers may miss permanent life insurance options, term life insurance is enough for many buyers. Should the worst happen, it is valuable coverage that can ensure that a policyholder’s family can afford to raise minor children, pay off the family mortgage and handle post-secondary education expenses.

Since term life insurance costs only a fraction of what permanent plans cost, prospective buyers can protect their families with a term policy and invest the difference in other financial instruments.

PolicyMe Term Life Insurance

PolicyMe offers life insurance with 10, 25, 20, 25 and 30-year terms. Here are the features that our team likes about the coverage:

• Coverage is available until age 85, so a 10-year plan at 75 is the last opportunity to buy.
• Couples are eligible for a 10% discount on joint policies in year one. 
• Free $10,000 coverage for each child of a policyholder
• Purchase a policy in 20 minutes or less
• Policies can be extended or upgraded in the first 5 years.

PolicyMe	Coverage
Term length	10 years 15 years 20 years 25 years 30 years
Amount	$100,000 to $5 million
Age maximum	Insurable up to age 85

PolicyMe Critical Illness Insurance

PolicyMe offers comprehensive critical illness coverage. Policies are also available online and can be purchased quickly.

PolicyMe Critical Illness insurance	Coverage
Conditions covered	44
Amounts	$10,000 to $250,000
Term length	10 years 15 years 20 years 25 years 30 years
Level premiums
Joint policy
Online approval

Here’s a list of the fully covered severe conditions:

Illness type	Fully covered conditions
Cancer	Cancer of specified severity
Heart Conditions	Aortic surgery Cardiomyopathy Coronary artery bypass surgery Heart attack Heart valve replacement or repair
Neurological Conditions	Stroke Acquired brain injury Bacterial meningitis Benign brain tumour Coma Dementia, including Alzheimer's Disease Motor neuron disease (incl. ALS) Parkinson's Disease and specified atypical Parkinsonian disorders Paralysis
Autoimmune Conditions	Aplastic anaemia Multiple sclerosis Occupational HIV infection
Sensory & Mobility Conditions	Blindness Deafness Loss of limbs Loss of speech Loss of independent existence Severe burns
Transplants & Organ-Related Conditions	Kidney failure Major organ transplant Major organ failure on a waiting list

PolicyMe Critical Illness also includes 17 early-stage conditions in its policy. 

Illness type	Partially covered conditions
Cardiovascular Conditions & Procedures	Aortic aneurysm Coronary angioplasty Endovascular aortic surgery Implantation of a permanent cardiac pacemaker Implantation of a permanent implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD)
Early-Stage Blood Cancers	Chronic lymphocytic leukemia – stage 0
Early-Stage Breast Cancer	Breast Cancer: Ductal carcinoma in situ of the breast or lobular carcinoma in situ of the breast
Early-Stage Intestinal Cancer	Gastrointestinal stromal tumours (GIST)
Early-Stage Prostate Cancer	Prostate cancer – stage T1a or T1b
Early-Stage Skin Cancers	Malignant melanoma – stage 1 Dermatofibrosarcoma Primary cutaneous lymphoma
Early-Stage Thyroid Cancer	Papillary thyroid cancer or follicular thyroid cancer – stage 1
Other Forms Of Cancer	Neuroendocrine tumours (including carcinoid tumours) Carcinoma in-situ (non-invasive cancer)
Mastectomies	Carcinoma in-situ (CIS) of the breast treated with total mastectomy
Prostatectomies	Prostate cancer treated with radical prostatectomy

How do you get a PolicyMe quote?

PolicyMe’s quote process couldn’t be easier. There’s no need to call an agent or request a call back to buy term life insurance. Just navigate to PolicyMe or click “Get Started” at the top right of the PolicyMe website to get started.

You’ll be asked to answer a few dozen questions about who needs coverage, your financial needs, your medical history and your lifestyle. It is intuitive and can be completed in fewer than 20 minutes. Most buyers won’t require a medical exam and can purchase coverage upon completing the questionnaire.

For critical illness insurance, it is even faster to buy. Navigate to PolicyMe. It will ask about your date of birth, gender and tobacco use. From there fill out how much coverage you’d like and check your eligibility.  

Life insurance is a critical investment so it's important to weigh multiple options. For that, you could simply use our comparator to compare plans and get personalised quotes from the best Canadian life insurance providers, and all in a few seconds.

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How much does PolicyMe life insurance cost?

PolicyMe term life insurance is competitively priced compared to traditional life insurance providers in Canada. 

That’s a big savings vs a quote we retrieved from one of Canada’s top 5 financial institutions. For a similar $500,000 20-year term policy it quoted $51.54 for a man and $39.00 for a woman.  

Here are PolicyMe costs for a $250,000 term coverage for 40-year-olds considering different term lengths:

Term	Male 40	Female 40	Male 40 (smoker)	Female 40 ( smoker)
10	$13.76	$10.03	$29.27	$20.64
15	$18.31	$13.75	$41.32	$29.19
20	$20.93	$15.03	$54.39	$36.34
25	$29.80	$20.86	$62.82	$42.27
30	$37.59	$26.23	$86.08	$55.60

And here are PolicyMe costs for a $25,000 and $100,000 critical illness coverage for 40-year-olds considering different term lengths:

Term	Male 40 ($25K)	Female 40	Male 40 ($100K)	Female 40
10	$16.81	$18.61	$43.83	$46.26
15	$18.45	$19.3	$51.21	$54.82
20	$20.7	$20.32	$62.55	$61.47
25	$23.9	$23.65	$73.30	$70.15
30	$28.36	$26.11	$87.93	7$9.92

What does PolicyMe life insurance cover?

Life insurance provides a one-time, tax-free payment to your beneficiaries. That means that a PolicyMe life insurance benefit can go towards almost anything. The amount of this death benefit just depends on the amount of coverage the policyholder purchased.

Beneficiaries can use this money towards anything from living expenses, to paying off co-signed debt, to the funeral or something else entirely. It is common to use the benefit to cover:

• Lost income
• Paying off a mortgage
• Childcare expenses
• Tuition and secondary education
• Final expenses
• Supporting dependants

Is PolicyMe safe?

Yes, PolicyMe is safe. It’s true that PolicyMe is a very young company when compared to traditional life insurance providers in Canada. Despite that, PolicyMe is a legitimate and reputable insurance option. It being new is a virtue as it’s been developed from the ground up as an online provider with efficient processes that can offer its equivalent coverage for less.

Financially, policyholders are in good hands. PolicyMe partners with Canadian Premier, which was founded in 1955 and earns an ‘A’ financial rating from AM Best. Canadian Premier is owned by Securian Financial Group.

PolicyMe and Canadian Premier policies are protected by Assuris, a Canadian nonprofit that protects life insurance policyholders. In the rare event that a life insurance company becomes insolvent, Assuris steps in to guarantee a payout of 85% of the value of a policy.