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Genetic Testing and Life Insurance in Canada
By Parvesh Benning, Licensed Life Insurance Broker | Updated: October 2, 2026
Your genetic test result is protected by federal law, but the diagnosis it can lead to and your family history are still underwritten.
In Canada there is a Genetic Non-Discrimination Act. An insurance company cannot require your existing genetic test results, and it cannot make you take a test. It is a law. What catches people is everything around the test: the specialist referral, the diagnosis, the family history question on the application.
Genetic Testing and Life Insurance in Canada
By Parvesh Benning, Licensed Life Insurance Broker | Updated: October 2, 2026
Your genetic test result is protected by federal law, but the diagnosis it can lead to and your family history are still underwritten.
In Canada there is a Genetic Non-Discrimination Act. An insurance company cannot require your existing genetic test results, and it cannot make you take a test. It is a law. What catches people is everything around the test: the specialist referral, the diagnosis, the family history question on the application.
Your insurance is based on today: the answers to the questions today, and how you qualify today. A genetic test you take after a policy is issued does not change that policy.
The calls on this topic sound alike. Someone has a parent or sibling with a hereditary condition, a genetics appointment is booked, and they want to know two things. Will the insurer find out? And what do I have to disclose? Some are weighing whether to get tested at all because of it.
The insurer cannot require the result. What the result leads to can still count on your application.
Cannot be required
Your genetic test and its result
- You cannot be required to take a genetic test
- You cannot be required to share a result you already have
- A result cannot be collected or used without your written consent
Still on the application
What the test leads to, and your family
- A diagnosis, even one confirmed by a genetic test
- Symptoms, specialist visits and treatment
- Scans, heart monitoring and bloodwork: these are medical tests
- Family history: parents and siblings, by condition and age
A genetic test means a lab test of DNA, RNA or chromosomes. These rules come from the federal Genetic Non-Discrimination Act and apply to every life insurer in Canada.
What this guide covers
- Can insurers require genetic test results?
- What counts as a genetic test
- How family history affects life insurance
- How insurers handle results in practice
- Insurance before testing: does the order matter?
- Critical illness insurance and family history
- Do you need no medical life insurance?
- Frequently asked questions
- Getting a no-name underwriting check
Can Life Insurers in Canada Require Genetic Test Results?
No. A life insurer in Canada cannot require you to take a genetic test, and it cannot require the results of one you have already had. It is a law, the Genetic Non-Discrimination Act, and breaking it is a criminal offence. In practice, the applications I work with do not ask for a result either.
The Act covers any contract, so it applies the same way to life insurance, critical illness insurance and disability insurance. An insurer also cannot refuse you, or change your terms, because you declined to take a test or share a result. The only people exempt are your health care providers and medical researchers, which is how testing itself gets done.
The law has been tested. Quebec’s government questioned whether Ottawa had the power to pass it, and in 2020 the Supreme Court of Canada upheld it. It is settled.
May 4, 2017
The Act became law
July 10, 2020
Upheld by the Supreme Court of Canada, 5 to 4
$1,000,000
Maximum fine, up to five years in prison, or both
There is one way a result can enter your insurance file: you choose to share it, in writing. The Act allows a result to be collected or used with your written consent. Without that consent, the insurer cannot use it, and nobody can make your signature a condition of coverage.
What the Act does not do is hide the rest of your medical picture. A diagnosis, a symptom, a specialist’s follow-up and your family history all sit outside it. That gap is where most of the surprises come from.
What Counts as a Genetic Test for Insurance (and What Does Not)
A genetic test is a lab test that analyzes your DNA, RNA or chromosomes, usually to predict, diagnose or monitor a disease. A scan, a heart monitor or routine bloodwork is not a genetic test, even when family history is the only reason it was ordered.
That second sentence matters more than the first. The law protects one specific kind of test. Everything else your doctor orders is ordinary medical testing, and applications ask about it.
How an application sorts them
DNA test for a known family variant
Genetic test
Predictive test for an inherited condition
Genetic test
Carrier screening before a pregnancy
Genetic test
Echocardiogram, cardiac MRI, heart monitor
Medical test
Colonoscopy or mammogram
Medical test
Cholesterol, blood sugar and other bloodwork
Medical test
Blood and urine at the insurer’s nurse visit
Medical test
The last row surprises people. The samples an insurer collects check things like blood sugar, cholesterol and nicotine. None of it is genetic, and you can see the full list in what a life insurance medical exam tests for.
When family screening turns into a diagnosis
Here is how this plays out. A man in his mid-30s, non-smoker, no symptoms, no medication. His mother was diagnosed with a heart muscle condition, so he went through family screening: a stress test, a heart monitor, then a cardiac MRI. The MRI found the same condition in him.
His file, in the order it happened
Had he only done a genetic test, the insurer could not have required that result. But a scan had now confirmed a diagnosis, and a diagnosis is what an insurer assesses. Postponed means no offer now, try again in a few years. As I told his family, “We can’t go back in time. We can only go forward.”
Your health comes first
None of this is a reason to delay a test your doctor recommends. Screening was the right medical decision for him. The insurance lesson is about the order things happen in, and it only helps if you know it early.
If you already have a diagnosed hereditary condition, the question changes from the test to the condition itself. That is covered in our guide to life insurance coverage for genetic disorders.
How Family History Affects Life Insurance, Even When Test Results Are Protected
Family history is not covered by the Genetic Non-Discrimination Act, so insurers can ask about it and price on it. For life insurance the effect is usually small. One parent or sibling with a condition often changes nothing, while two or more with the same condition, diagnosed young, can add a rating.
The first thing I look at is how the question is worded. Is the question anytime before age 60? Is it 65? That can decide which insurer is the better fit, because the same family can be a yes on one application and a no on another. Not every questionnaire is created equal.
What family history usually does to the price
For most common conditions, one affected relative leaves you at standard rates. Assumption Life’s guide for its medically underwritten plans, for example, treats one close family member diagnosed before 60 with diabetes, cancer, stroke or heart trouble as a standard risk, and two or more with the same condition as standard or a small rating of 150%.
A 150% rating means roughly one and a half times the standard premium. As an illustration only: a 35-year-old woman, non-smoker, with $500,000 of 20-year term starts from about $22 per month based on current carrier rates. At a 150% rating that same policy works out to about $31. Your own rating, if any, depends on your full application, and our guide to life insurance risk classes explains how the tiers work.
On larger policies the more common effect is quieter: you miss the lowest price tier. Two insurers draw the line this way.
Family history and the price tiers at BMO Insurance and Empire Life
Lowest price tier
No parent or sibling diagnosed with heart disease, cancer or stroke before 65
Next tier
No more than one diagnosed before 60
Regular rates
More family history than that
Missing the top tier is not a rating. You are still approved at regular rates. You just do not get the discount. Insurers revise these guidelines, so the cutoffs are worth confirming when you apply.
Huntington’s disease and polycystic kidney disease in the family
Conditions passed down through a single gene are assessed differently from heart disease or cancer in the family. With a parent or sibling affected, the answer can range from standard rates to a decline. Assumption Life’s guide says exactly that for Huntington’s disease, polycystic kidney disease and other hereditary diseases. Your own age matters most.
A parent with Huntington’s disease: one major insurer’s guidelines, by your age
Under 40
Assessed case by case
40 to 59
Expect a significant rating
60 and over
Standard rates become possible
There is more in our guide to life insurance and Huntington’s disease. Polycystic kidney disease shows how a medical test can help you: at some insurers, a normal kidney ultrasound after age 30 can bring an applicant with an affected parent back to standard rates.
This is the part of the market where insurers disagree most. So before anything is signed, I send the medical details to more than one underwriting desk with no name attached, and wait for a written answer.
How Canadian Insurers Handle Genetic Results in Practice
An insurer can’t require a genetic test or a result, and in practice the applications I work with don’t ask for one. Many applications tell you to leave genetic tests out, the broker guides tell me not to write them down, and when a result still turns up in a medical file, the insurer sets it aside. What gets assessed is the diagnosis, the symptoms and the family history.
Four places a genetic result gets filtered out
1On the application
Many applications word their health questions to leave genetic tests out. Not every form says so in the question, so we read the pending-test wording together before you answer it.
2In the broker’s notes
Foresters tells advisors not to include genetic testing information on the application, in a cover letter or in any other document. Assumption Life’s underwriting guide says not to provide any information about genetics with a family history.
3In the doctor’s report
When one insurer asked for a client’s medical records, the request itself said to exclude all genetic information and testing.
4On the underwriter’s desk
If a result arrives anyway, it is set aside. I have that in writing from a major insurer.
That last stop is the one people doubt. So here is the file.
One real file: the test was set aside, the diagnosis decided it
A man around 50 came to me after two declines in one month, one from his group plan and one from a bank insurer. Four years earlier he had been diagnosed with a rare inherited neurological condition, and a genetic test had confirmed it.
I sent his file to several large insurers with no name on it. The more information we give, the better. It’s just we wouldn’t tie it to him.
The file, sent with no name attached
- Male, 50, non-smoker
- Rare inherited neurological condition, diagnosed four years earlier
- Diagnosis confirmed by genetic testing set aside by the insurer
- Strong family history on his father’s side
- Ongoing specialist follow-up
- Request: $750,000 of life insurance, plus critical illness
The reply, in writing, after medical director review
Decline, life and critical illness
Genetic test information was in the file. It was not requested, reviewed or used in the assessment.
Read that reply twice. The test was walled off, the way the law requires, and he was still declined. A confirmed diagnosis of a progressive condition is not a test result. It is medical history, and it is underwritten like any other medical condition on a life insurance application.
Then it comes down to wording
A decline from one insurer is not the end of the file. As I told his family, “The reality is 18 of them might say we can’t do it, but we actually only need one that will. And really, it comes down to wording more than anything on the questions.”
The next stop was simplified issue: fewer health questions and generally no nurse visit, but still underwritten, and your answers are binding. Some of those forms ask a blanket question about any nervous system disorder. The one that approved him names specific conditions, and his was not on the list.
Same man, same month
Group plan, extra coverage
Declined
Bank insurer
Declined
Traditional insurer, in writing
Declined
Two more traditional insurers
No reply
Assumption Life Platinum Protection, simplified issue
Approved the next day
- Male, 50, non-smoker: $750,000 of 20-year term
- About $275 per month
- No deferred benefit period on this plan
- Routine follow-up for a known diagnosis was not a pending investigation on this form
- A healthy applicant with the same profile: from about $178 per month based on current carrier rates
That is one real file, not a promise. He pays about $97 a month more than a healthy applicant would, someone else with the same condition could get a different answer, and every question on that form was answered truthfully.
If you have a result, a diagnosis or a family history and are not sure which of these applies to you, the first step is the same no-name check. While that is out, you can compare term life insurance quotes across carriers.
Life Insurance Before Genetic Testing: Does the Order Matter in Canada?
My recommendation is to secure the insurance beforehand, if you already plan to buy coverage and nothing is under investigation yet. The order matters in Canada, but not because of the result. The result is protected either way. What is not protected is anything the test leads to: a specialist referral, extra screening, a diagnosis. And never delay a test your doctor or genetic counsellor recommends because of insurance.
A couple in their early 30s asked me exactly this. A genetics appointment was booked because of a condition found in one relative, results were five or six months out, and they wanted to know what to do first. I told them, “You’re completely able and allowed to go do genetic testing. It doesn’t impact any insurance in place.” And if you want insurance regardless, secure it beforehand. It just simplifies the process.
Apply before the test
One outcome
The policy is issued on your health today. A later result, referral or diagnosis does not change it.
Apply after the test
Three possible outcomes
The result is negative
Nothing new to disclose. Apply as usual.
The result is positive, and nothing else has happened yet
The result itself stays off the application.
The result leads to a referral, added screening or a diagnosis
That part is medical history. It is underwritten.
On many applications a booked genetic test is not what the pending-test question is asking about, because the question is worded to leave genetic tests out. Not every form is worded that way, so read the question with your broker before you answer it. A cardiology referral that follows a result is a different thing. That one is a pending investigation, and you should expect an insurer to wait until it is finished.
Buying first is about timing. It is never about leaving something out. On the day you apply, every question gets a truthful answer, including symptoms you have noticed, appointments already booked and anything already diagnosed. A known condition left off an application is one of the reasons a life insurance claim can be denied.
What the order cost one family
A 36-year-old man with no symptoms was diagnosed with a heart condition through family screening. He had wanted $750,000 of 25-year term. Here is that coverage before the diagnosis and after it.
Monthly cost for each $100,000 of coverage, same man
$9
Before screening
Healthy man, 36, non-smoker: $750,000 of 25-year term from about $65 per month based on current carrier rates.
$29
Traditional insurers: postponed
One wrote that it may reconsider at age 40, at no less than 250% of standard, which is two and a half times the regular premium. Illustration only: about $221 per month for $750,000 at that age.
$71
Simplified issue, available now
The one plan that would consider him: $300,000 at most, about $213 per month for a 20-year term, with a 2-year limitation on pre-existing conditions.
$126
Guaranteed issue, the last resort
Manulife Guaranteed Issue Life, whole life: $100,000 at most, about $126 per month. A death from natural causes in the first 2 years returns the premiums, not the $100,000.
They decided none of the options after the diagnosis fit their budget, and did not go ahead. If we had talked a year earlier, I would have pushed hard to get the coverage in place first. That is the real cost of waiting to buy life insurance.
If the result is positive after you are covered
Nothing happens to the policy. If your health changes after it is in place, that has no impact on your existing coverage. Your rate and terms are locked. What changes is the next application: adding a second policy later means answering the questions again, as your health stands then.
Genetic Testing and Critical Illness Insurance: Why Family History Matters More
The family history, I find, really has impact more on critical illness. Your genetic test result is protected the same way it is for life insurance, but a parent or sibling diagnosed young with cancer, heart disease or a neurological condition can mean a higher premium, an exclusion for that condition, or a decline.
Critical illness insurance pays a lump sum if you are diagnosed with a covered condition and survive a waiting period, commonly 30 days. It is more expensive than life because the claim rate is many times that of life. So the insurer is not asking whether your family history shortens your life. It is asking whether you are likely to get the same illness.
One parent or sibling with cancer: iA Financial Group, medically underwritten critical illness
| Relative’s age at diagnosis | Breast or ovarian, woman applying | Colorectal |
|---|---|---|
| Under 50 | Exclusion | Permanent exclusion |
| 50 to 59 | Higher premium | Higher premium plus exclusion |
| 60 or older | Standard | Standard |
Same relative, same cancer, and the answer moves with one number: how old they were when it was found. These are iA’s guidelines for its medically underwritten plans, not its Access Life line. Treat them as a starting point: every file is still assessed on its own, and insurers revise their guidelines.
An exclusion can remove the reason you applied
If there’s significant family history of a particular type of cancer, the insurer might exclude that, which might have been the trigger in the first place for the client. This is what that looks like on a policy.
Still covered
Heart attackStrokeBypass surgeryKidney failureMultiple sclerosisOther cancers
Excluded for the life of the policy
Breast cancerOvarian cancer
Illustration of a comprehensive plan issued to a woman whose mother had breast cancer before 50. Covered conditions differ by plan and are listed in the policy wording.
Insurers do not all make the same trade. ivari’s stated approach is to offer an exclusion in place of a higher premium where it can, to keep the coverage affordable. Others rate. Which suits you depends on whether you would rather pay more and keep the condition covered, or pay less and carve it out, and it is one of the things I weigh when comparing critical illness insurance companies.
A life decision and a critical illness decision on the same person are often different, and a no on critical illness is not a no on life. Ask for both to be assessed, then compare critical illness insurance quotes with the exclusion wording in front of you.
Do You Need No Medical Life Insurance After a Genetic Test?
There are guaranteed options available between 18 and 75, but that would be a last resort. A genetic test result on its own does not put you there. It cannot be required on any application, so with a result and nothing else you start with regular coverage, which costs less.
No medical plans earn their place when a traditional insurer has declined or postponed you over a diagnosis, like the two files above. They still ask health questions, and a few of them name hereditary conditions in the family outright. A yes on that one question changes what you can get.
The family history question on four no medical applications, paraphrased
Assumption Life Platinum Protection
Asked only if you are 50 or under: has a parent, brother or sister been diagnosed with Huntington’s disease or polycystic kidney disease, and you have not been investigated for it?
NOStill in line for Platinum Protection, up to $750,000 to age 50
YESMay qualify for Golden Protection instead, up to $250,000, subject to its remaining questions
iA Access Life
Has a parent, brother or sister been diagnosed before age 60 with Huntington’s disease or polycystic kidney disease?
NOStill in line for Immediate Plus, up to $500,000, with a natural death covered in full from issue
YESDeferred Plus, up to $350,000, and a natural death in the first 2 years returns premiums with interest
Beneva Simplified Life
Is there Huntington’s disease, Lynch syndrome or familial polyposis in your family?
NOCarry on with the rest of the questionnaire
YESNot eligible for this plan
Canada Protection Plan Simplified Elite
A family history question sits in the last section of the form.
EITHERSimplified Elite both ways, up to $500,000 for ages 18 to 60. A yes only rules out the Preferred plans.
Every one of these forms has other health questions. A no here keeps you in line for the plan. It does not approve you.
It is not the condition so much as the question. When the question is asked, do you fall under it? Read it at the age it uses and against the conditions it names, and answer exactly that. These limits and wordings change, so confirm the current form before you apply.
Guaranteed issue: no health questions, smaller amounts, limited benefit for 2 years
- Manulife Guaranteed Issue Life: up to $100,000, ages 18 to 70
- Canada Protection Plan Guaranteed Acceptance Life: up to $50,000
- iA Access Life Guaranteed Access: up to $50,000 to age 50
On each of these, a death from natural causes in the first 2 years returns the premiums paid, not the coverage amount.
If a traditional insurer has already said no, start by comparing no medical life insurance quotes against the questions on each form, not only the price. Our breakdown of no medical life insurance plans in Canada shows how the tiers differ.
Genetic Testing and Life Insurance: Frequently Asked Questions
Short answers to what people ask most about genetic tests, family history and life insurance in Canada.
The law
Can genetic testing be used against you for life insurance in Canada?
No. Under the Genetic Non-Discrimination Act, an insurer cannot require you to take a genetic test or share a result, and cannot refuse you or change your terms because you said no. A result can only be collected or used with your written consent.
The law
Does a mail-in DNA kit count as a genetic test?
The Act defines a genetic test by what it analyzes: DNA, RNA or chromosomes, for purposes such as predicting or diagnosing disease. The definition does not turn on who ordered the test or where it was done. This is general information, not legal advice.
Applying
Do life insurance blood tests include genetic testing?
No. The blood and urine samples an insurer collects check things like blood sugar, cholesterol and nicotine. They are medical tests, and an insurer cannot make a genetic test a condition of coverage.
Family
Does a relative’s genetic test result affect my application?
Not the result. The family history question asks which conditions your parents, brothers and sisters have been diagnosed with, usually before 60 or 65. A relative’s diagnosis counts. Their test result does not, and one application I use says in the question itself not to provide genetic test information.
Family
What if I was adopted and do not know my family history?
You answer with what you know. Assumption Life’s underwriting guide, for example, says an adopted person who does not know their family history can answer no to its family history questions.
Family
Can I insure my child if a hereditary condition runs in the family?
Often yes for life insurance for children, with limits: coverage is commonly capped at a share of what a parent holds, and you can’t do it if there are pending tests or consults for the child. Critical illness is tighter. ivari, for example, does not offer children’s critical illness coverage where there is a family history of familial polyposis, Huntington’s disease or polycystic kidney disease.
Cost of the test
Does insurance cover the cost of genetic testing?
Life insurance does not pay for genetic testing. Whether the test itself is covered is a health plan question, so ask the clinic ordering it, your provincial health plan or your workplace benefits before you book. A kit you order yourself is paid out of pocket.
This page is general information about insurance, not medical or legal advice. Carrier guidelines change, so confirm the current rules before you apply. Decide on testing with your doctor or a genetic counsellor.
How to Get a No-Name Underwriting Check Before You Apply
I don’t work for any of these companies. I work for my client. So before you apply anywhere, I can send your medical details to several insurers with no name attached and get their answers in writing. I would never use a client name.
The reason is simple. A formal decline can matter on a later application, because some applications ask whether you have had one declined or postponed. An anonymous inquiry is not an application. Going direct to one company gets you one answer, on a formal application. Working with an independent life insurance broker gets you several answers before you sign anything, and it costs you nothing.
What to have ready
- Your age, whether you smoke, and the coverage you want
- The diagnosis or family history in plain words, with dates
- Your doctor’s or specialist’s latest notes, if you have them
- Anything an insurer or group plan has already told you
- Not needed: genetic test results. Leave them out.
Talk to a broker directly
Or send your details through the contact page.
Independent since 2007. Licensed in Ontario, British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.
A no-name check gives you an indication, not an offer. The offer comes after a full application, and every answer on it has to be true. Replies can take a couple of weeks, and not every insurer will give an opinion without an application, which is one more reason to ask several at once.
