Manulife Financial, one of Canada’s leading insurance companies, will allow its healthiest life insurance customers to purchase critical illness coverage with no extra medical exams or questions, the first insurer in Canada to do so.

Under the automatic pre-approval program, new Canadian customers who are non-smokers, in above-average health, and with no family history of cancer will automatically qualify for up to $100,000 of Manulife’s Lifecheque critical illness insurance. They can pre-qualify for Manulife’s most cost-effective version of Lifecheque that offers protection for the four most common critical conditions – cancer, heart attack, coronary artery disease surgery and stroke.

The program is available to clients between the ages of 18 and 50, and Manulife estimates that between 40% and 50% of its new individual life insurance customers will qualify for this special pre-approved coverage each year.

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

Sales of critical illness insurance have been climbing dramatically in Canada during the past several years – making it the single fastest growing individual insurance product line in the country. At the end of 2001 (the most recent industry sales data available) sales were up more than 111% from the previous 12-month period.