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Life Insurance with COPD in Canada: The Three Questions That Decide It
Written by Parvesh Benning, Licensed Life Insurance Broker
On many no-medical applications, the COPD diagnosis is not what stops you. Three answers usually are: oxygen, an overnight hospital stay, and oral steroids.
I have been able to get clients coverage with COPD where other providers have said no. That comes from knowing the marketplace: insurers don’t ask the same questions, and they don’t rate COPD the same way. Which one sees your file first matters.
Updated October 26, 2026
Life Insurance with COPD in Canada: The Three Questions That Decide It
Written by Parvesh Benning, Licensed Life Insurance Broker
On many no-medical applications, the COPD diagnosis is not what stops you. Three answers usually are: oxygen, an overnight hospital stay, and oral steroids.
I have been able to get clients coverage with COPD where other providers have said no. That comes from knowing the marketplace: insurers don’t ask the same questions, and they don’t rate COPD the same way. Which one sees your file first matters.
Updated October 26, 2026
When someone calls me with COPD, the first ten minutes are an investigation. Any other health conditions, age, smoker status, unresolved tests, surgeries, procedures. The COPD itself is one line on that list, and often not the line that decides things.
Below: how fully underwritten insurers rate COPD by severity and smoking, the three questions that decide most no-medical applications, why calling five insurers yourself can backfire, and what changes when the coverage is for a parent. Asthma, sleep apnea and other lung conditions are covered in our guide to life insurance with a lung condition.
Three questions to check before you apply
Answer these about the last few years. On the no-medical applications I use most, they decide the outcome far more often than the diagnosis does.
1
Have you used oxygen for your lungs?
Home oxygen for a lung condition, not a CPAP for sleep apnea. Some forms look back 5 or 10 years. Others only ask whether you need it now.
If yes: often guaranteed issue, or a plan that asks the question differently.
2
Were you kept in hospital for COPD?
Some forms ask about the last 12 months, others the last 2 years. I always ask whether you were kept overnight, or just in and out.
If yes: wait out the lookback, or choose a plan whose questions don’t cover it.
3
Any oral steroid pills in the last 12 months?
Prednisone or another oral corticosteroid. Some forms exclude inhalers in writing, even steroid inhalers. At least one asks about any steroid use unless it’s for asthma, so read the exact wording.
If yes: plans that ask usually look back 12 months. Some don’t ask at all.
Three “no” answers: no-medical coverage is often possible. I still check fully underwritten options first, because they can cost less. Any “yes”: it’s not the end of the road. It changes which insurer and which product. Whatever the plan, every question gets answered completely and accurately.
A few plans ask whether you’ve had COPD at all in the last 5 years. That usually moves you to a deferred tier rather than a decline. Outcomes depend on the full application.
What’s on this page
- Can you get coverage with COPD?
- How severity and smoking change your rating
- The three no-medical questions
- Still smoking? A short policy now
- Why applying everywhere can backfire
- Coverage for a parent with COPD
- Converting term before the deadline
- Critical illness and COPD
- Questions clients ask
- Getting started
Can You Get Life Insurance with COPD in Canada?
Yes. With mild, stable COPD, coverage is usually available, often at a higher premium than standard. My goal is always to see whether there’s an option out there that makes sense from a fully underwritten perspective, before anything else.
That order matters. Fully underwritten coverage takes longer and the insurer gets your medical records, but when it works it usually costs less per dollar of coverage and allows larger amounts. A no-medical plan is faster, and it’s the right answer for plenty of people. It just shouldn’t be the automatic first move.
Checked first
Fully underwritten
The insurer looks at lung function, severity, smoking and how you manage day to day. Fits mild to moderate COPD and larger amounts.
Trade-off: medical records and a few weeks of waiting.
Checked next
Simplified issue (health questions, no exam)
No blood work or nurse visit, but the answers are binding and still checked. Fits stable COPD with no oxygen, no recent COPD hospital stay and no recent oral steroids.
Trade-off: higher premium and lower maximum amounts.
Last resort
Guaranteed issue (no health questions)
Acceptance doesn’t depend on your health. Fits people on oxygen or with a recent hospital stay.
Trade-off: small amounts, the highest cost per dollar, and on most plans a death from natural causes in the first two years refunds the premiums instead of paying the full amount.
Already declined somewhere? The first things I want to know are who the other insurer was, and the reason. Banks are known to be quite conservative, and a decline there doesn’t mean every insurer will see your file the same way. These are the common reasons applications get denied, and many of them can be worked around.
For the full difference between the two no-medical routes, see simplified issue and guaranteed issue explained.
How COPD Severity and Smoking Change Your Rating
Severity and smoking drive most of a fully underwritten COPD rating. In the underwriting guides I work with, mild COPD in a non-smoker runs anywhere from standard rates to about double. Smoking pushes the same file higher. Severe COPD is usually declined.
A rating is a multiple of the standard premium. 150% means one and a half times standard, 200% means double. Here’s how this works across life insurance risk classes.
Typical COPD rating ranges, fully underwritten
Each bar shows where ratings usually land. Further right means a higher premium.
Standard
200%
300%
Decline
Mild, non-smoker standard to about 200%
Mild, smoker about 150% to 250%, and some insurers decline current smokers
Moderate, non-smoker about 175% to 250%, some files declined
Moderate, smoker about 250% and up, often a decline
Severe, either usually declined on fully underwritten coverage
Blue non-smoker, rust smoker, pale blue means it can stretch to a decline. Ranges are drawn from several Canadian insurers’ advisor guides. Your own rating depends on the whole file and is never guaranteed.
The label isn’t the whole story, though. A mild COPD label with no limitations is going to be treated very differently than mild to moderate COPD. Underwriting wants to know how you actually live with it:
Can you walk normally?Climb stairs?Work?Exercise?No oxygen?Out of hospital?
Same idea as any pre-existing condition. Stable and functional beats a scary-sounding diagnosis.
What those ratings look like in dollars
One profile: male, age 50, $250,000, 20-year term. Monthly premium.
Standard, non-smoker
$69
Rated 150%, non-smoker
$101
Rated 200%, non-smoker
$133
Rated 250%, non-smoker
$165
Rated 200%, smoker
$359
Illustrations, not quotes. Based on current carrier rates, with the rating applied to the premium before a small fixed policy fee. Rounded to the dollar, subject to underwriting and change.
Compare the two lines rated 200%: $133 a month for the non-smoker, $359 for the smoker. Same age, same amount, same term, same rating. The gap is the cigarettes. That’s covered further down, and in more detail in our guide to life insurance for smokers.
For standard-rate context by age, see what a 20-year term costs in Canada. To see your own numbers, start with term life insurance quotes, and then we adjust for your file.
The Three Questions That Decide a No-Medical COPD Application
On many no-medical applications, three questions matter more than the COPD diagnosis itself: oxygen, a hospital stay for COPD, and oral steroids. And not all providers ask them the same way.
Is it COPD, or COPD requiring oxygen? That path might be completely different from someone in a different picture. The lookback window changes from plan to plan too, which is half the reason routing matters.
How four no-medical plans word the COPD questions
| Plan | Oxygen | COPD hospital stay | Oral steroid pills | COPD itself |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Assumption Life Platinum Protection | Past 10 years | Past 2 years | Past 12 months, inhalers excluded | Not asked |
| Assumption Life Golden Protection | Past 5 years | Past 12 months | Past 12 months | Not asked |
| Canada Protection Plan Elite tiers | Needed it: Guaranteed Acceptance tier | No COPD-specific question | Any steroid, unless for asthma | Past 5 years: deferred tier |
| iA Access Life Immediate Plus | Daily oxygen: Guaranteed Access instead | No COPD-specific question | No COPD-specific question | Not asked |
Based on current application wording, which insurers change. “Not asked” and “no COPD-specific question” mean no question names COPD for that item. General health questions still apply on every plan and may capture the same events, and every answer is binding. Eligibility is never guaranteed.
So the same person can be a “no” on one form and a clean “yes” on another. Someone who needed oral prednisone eight months ago is stuck on some plans for now and fine on others. That’s the whole job: matching your three answers to the plan whose wording fits. You can compare how these insurers stack up in our reviews of Assumption Life, Canada Protection Plan and Industrial Alliance.
It caught me once because it’s always the wording. Assumption Life’s Platinum Protection application spells it out: oral prednisone “does not include inhalers that may contain Prednisone or another corticosteroid.” Other forms don’t say that, so never assume. More on how prescriptions show up in medications that affect life insurance.
From a call this year: a 66-year-old on two inhalers, still smoking
So for the COPD, is there any oral prednisone or corticosteroid?
No. Just the inhalers.
In the last two years, has there been any hospitalization? Were you kept overnight, or was it just in and out?
In and out. A fall, not her lungs.
Result: “The COPD is not a hindrance here.” She was approved for no-medical permanent coverage. Her answers are summarized, and outcomes depend on the full application.
Two side notes. A CPAP for sleep apnea isn’t oxygen on these forms. And a steroid prescribed only for asthma is treated differently on at least one of them.
If your three answers are clean, no-medical life insurance quotes are a sensible next look. The no-medical plans available in Canada are compared side by side there too.
Still Smoking With COPD? Why a Shorter Policy Now Can Pay Off
If you have COPD and still smoke, a shorter policy now, often a 10-year term, can make more sense than locking smoker rates in for 20 or 25 years. I wouldn’t want you paying smoker rates on a twenty, twenty-five year policy.
So what I’ve normally done is a ten-year plan, and we’ve done this very often. At least there’s coverage during that time. Then, come a year after quitting, we re-apply as a non-smoker and extend the term.
Now
Put a shorter term in place at smoker rates
Coverage starts today. Ideally one with an exchange or conversion privilege, so you’re protected if your health changes.
Months 1 to 12
Stay completely nicotine-free
Most insurers count any nicotine: cigarettes, vaping, cigars, and even nicotine pouches like Zyn. “Mostly quit” isn’t quit.
Month 12 and after
Re-apply as a non-smoker and extend
A new application, so approval isn’t guaranteed. If your COPD is stable, the non-smoker price is usually lower. Your age and how your lungs are doing by then also count.
Only then
Cancel the smoker policy
Never before the new one is approved and in force. Holding two policies for a short overlap is normal. If the new application doesn’t work out, you simply keep the bridge.
When the bridge usually fits
Mild, stable COPD, a real plan to quit, and a bridge policy with an exchange or conversion privilege.
When locking in longer may be safer
Moderate or worsening COPD, or no realistic quit date. Requalifying a year later is less certain, so a longer term now can be the better call, even at smoker rates.
When the bridge does fit, the math is why. Here’s the gap before any COPD rating is even added:
Monthly, male, age 50, $250,000, standard rates before any COPD rating. All three are shown at the same age; a year later, the non-smoker price would be slightly higher. Based on current carrier rates. Illustrations only, subject to underwriting and change.
Be honest on the form about the date you quit. Insurers check the Medical Information Bureau and can apply smoker rates based on what they find, even on a no-medical plan. A wrong date costs more than the smoker premium ever would.
More on choosing a term length, and what a 10-year term costs by age.
Why Applying to Five Insurers With COPD Can Backfire
Applying to several insurers on your own can backfire. Each application can leave coded medical information at the Medical Information Bureau (MIB), a database Canadian insurers check, and the next insurer may see those codes and ask about them. MIB doesn’t pass along another insurer’s decision, but some no-medical forms ask straight out whether you’ve been declined in the last one or two years.
So before I submit anything, I contact the underwriting departments anonymously, without your name attached, and give them your details so they can tell me how they’ll likely underwrite. That way we find out before an application goes in, and without anything on your record.
Calling insurers one by one
Application 1 goes in with your name on it
↓
Declined or heavily rated, and certain medical details may be coded at MIB
↓
Application 2 asks: “declined in the last 2 years?”
↓
More questions, and underwriting that can get more complicated
One anonymous check first
Your details go to underwriters with no name attached
↓
Each one says how they’d likely treat the file
↓
We compare the answers and pick where it fits
↓
One application, sent where it’s most likely to land
That anonymous check is called a preliminary assessment. It isn’t a promise. The underwriter only sees what I send, and the formal application can still turn up something new. But it changes the odds a lot.
Here’s what happens when the order gets reversed. This is a real file from this year, and it doesn’t have a tidy ending.
CASE FILE: COPD, no oxygen, no steroids, quit tobacco under a year earlier
01
He’d already phoned other insurers before we spoke.
02
A simplified, no-medical application was accepted.
03
Then the insurer’s review, including an MIB check, led them to ask for a report from his doctor and apply smoker rates. That’s not normally required on a simplified product, and it caught me off guard too.
04
He cancelled. My note to him: “The good news is we have options. We can look at reapplying with a different carrier to see if we get a more favourable outcome.”
05
Next insurer: rather than just submitting another application, I asked them for a preliminary assessment first. It came back workable.
06
After he applied, that insurer wrote that an MIB alert suggested some answers may not have been correct, and that he’d likely applied elsewhere. They asked him to re-answer five questions, both COPD questions included. He didn’t go ahead.
The COPD wasn’t what sank it. It was the trail: earlier applications, a quit date that didn’t line up cleanly, and MIB codes the next insurer could see and ask about. Every application after the first has to line up with the ones before it.
Already applied somewhere, or been turned down by a bank? It’s not over. See what we do after a bank decline, and the things to sort out before applying at all.
Want the anonymous check done before anything goes on your record?
That’s the first thing an independent life insurance broker does on a COPD file, and it costs you nothing. Call 1-877-654-6119, or read what a broker actually does.
Buying Final Expense Coverage for a Parent With COPD
Yes, you can arrange final expense coverage for a parent with COPD, but your parent has to understand the health questions, answer them and sign. In my experience, insurers don’t accept a power of attorney signing a new life insurance application on the parent’s behalf.
That’s usually the first thing I clear up, because adult children often call first. Totally fine. You can help on the call, pay the premium and be the beneficiary. The application itself is still your parent’s. Here’s how taking out life insurance on someone else works.
Your parent
Answers every health question and signs. Has to understand what they’re answering.
You
Can join the call, pay the premiums and be named beneficiary.
Power of attorney
In my experience, not accepted to sign the application or answer the questions. Rules vary by insurer, so confirm first.
What most families want is simple. No medical, level cost for life, which is essentially what we’re looking for. It’s not meant to be any more complicated than just that. A simplified issue plan, like the one I’ll describe below, still asks all the health questions; there’s just no nurse or blood work involved. A guaranteed issue plan generally asks none, and that changes what you’re buying.
That “from day one” part is where families get surprised, so I’m very direct about it. The surprises are your premiums start going up. Or you didn’t know you weren’t covered for the first two years. The bars below show the difference.
Day 1
Year 1
Year 2 onward
Immediate-coverage simplified issue plan
Full amount payable from the start, subject to the policy’s terms. The main exceptions: suicide in the first two years, or answers that weren’t truthful.
Guaranteed issue plan
For death from natural causes in the first two years, premiums are refunded instead of the full amount. Accidents are typically covered from the start.
Exact terms vary by insurer and product. Read the contract.
So guaranteed issue is a last resort, for a parent on oxygen or with a recent hospital stay. In my experience, plenty of parents with COPD on inhalers only can still answer the three questions above cleanly. One recent case: a 66-year-old who still smokes daily, on two inhalers, no oral steroids, no overnight stay. She qualified for no-medical permanent coverage with day-one protection.
Based on current carrier rates for one insurer’s product. Not a market average, subject to change.
Two more practical points. Size the amount to the real bill. The family I mentioned started at $30,000 to $40,000 and settled on $25,000 once we priced it. Funeral expense insurance walks through typical costs. And if a payment bounces, there’s generally a 30-day grace period, so one NSF doesn’t normally lapse the policy on the spot. Confirm that in the contract.
Already holding a seniors plan whose premium climbs every year? Read the hidden costs of some seniors plans before renewing. For the bigger picture there’s our guide to life insurance for seniors, coverage after 70, and permanent life insurance quotes when you’re ready to compare.
Converting Term Life Insurance Before the Deadline When You Have COPD
If your term policy has a conversion privilege and you develop COPD, converting to permanent coverage before the deadline usually keeps you covered without new health questions. Once the deadline passes, that option is gone.
I had a client in their 70s with a lung condition ask me to shop around instead. Yes, I can find options, but they’re not better than what you have to convert. That’s the usual answer once a diagnosis is on file.
Conversion usually keeps
Your original health rating. No new medical questions.
Conversion doesn’t keep
Your term premium. The new one is based on your age when you convert.
Conversion rights, deadlines, eligible products and how your rating carries over vary by contract. Your policy governs.
Why not just let the term renew? Because renewal pricing jumps. It does technically renew, it’s just that the renewal is so high that most people don’t do it. Here’s a real renewal table, from a 10-year Assumption Life Platinum Protection Term policy I placed this year: $300,000, male, non-smoker, age 65.
Annual premium at each renewal
$4,266
$21,447
$59,805
Ages 65 to 74
Ages 75 to 84
Ages 85 to 89
Dashed line: the conversion deadline on this policy, age 75. Conversion is only available before it.
Annual figures from one in-force contract’s guaranteed renewal table. Other policies and insurers differ; your contract governs.
About five times the premium at the first renewal, and about fourteen times by the second. With COPD in the picture, a brand-new policy at 75 usually isn’t cheaper either. So the conversion date is the one to watch.
How to find your conversion deadline
- Open the policy specifications page of your contract. Many print a “conversion date” right beside the expiry date.
- Check whether you can convert part of the coverage and keep the rest as term.
- Ask which permanent products the insurer allows you to convert into, and the premium for each.
- Have a broker look at it months before the deadline, not the week of.
Group coverage through work often has its own conversion option when you leave the job, usually with a short window. Worth knowing before you retire. More on how group life insurance works.
We compare the conversion and extension rules of 13 insurers in extend or convert term life insurance. Also useful: what to do when your term expires, how permanent life insurance works, and reviewing your policy every year.
Is COPD Covered by Critical Illness Insurance?
COPD can limit critical illness coverage in two ways. It affects whether you qualify, and it may not be a condition the policy pays on. A critical illness policy pays a lump sum only for the conditions listed in its wording.
Question 1: Can I qualify?
Depends on severity. Underwriting for critical illness is usually stricter than for life insurance.
Question 2: Would it pay for COPD?
Only if a lung condition is on the policy’s list. That varies by product, so check the wording.
On qualifying, the underwriting guides I work with point in a similar direction:
Drawn from several Canadian insurers’ advisor guides. Smoking moves each outcome toward the higher end. Products differ, and none of this guarantees an offer.
An exclusion means the policy still pays for other covered conditions like cancer, heart attack or stroke, but not for claims arising from the excluded condition, as the exclusion wording defines it. Read that wording closely. It decides how wide the exclusion is, and for some people the trade is reasonable. It depends on what you’re buying the coverage to protect.
If critical illness isn’t available, start with what you wanted it for. Critical illness is a living benefit: money while you’re sick, for income, treatment or bills. Disability insurance may cover part of the income side, depending on what you can qualify for. Life insurance only pays when you die, so it protects your family, not your cash flow during an illness. More on critical illness vs disability insurance.
For how critical illness works in general, read is critical illness insurance worth it and the critical illness insurers we compare. To check your own options, start with critical illness insurance quotes.
Questions Clients Ask About COPD and Life Insurance
These are the questions COPD clients and their families actually ask me, answered short.
01 Can a power of attorney sign a life insurance application for my parent?
Usually not. In my experience, insurers don’t accept a power of attorney signing a new life insurance application. The person being insured needs to understand the health questions, answer them and sign. Rules vary by insurer and by the POA document, so confirm before applying. You can still help on the call, pay the premium and be the beneficiary.
02 Will one missed payment cancel the policy?
Not normally. There is generally a 30-day grace period if a premium is missed, so the policy wouldn’t lapse immediately because of one returned payment. The coverage stays in force during the grace period. Confirm the exact terms in your contract.
03 Is there a two-year waiting period on every policy?
No. It depends on the type of plan. Immediate-coverage plans pay the full amount from day one, apart from the standard two-year suicide clause. Deferred or graded plans limit the payout for death from natural causes in the early years, often to a refund of premiums. Guaranteed issue plans usually work that way for the first two years. Separately, on any policy the insurer can contest a material misrepresentation in the first two years. Check which type you’re buying before you sign.
04 Does my inhaler count as a steroid on the application?
On some applications, no. Assumption Life’s Platinum Protection form excludes inhalers from its oral steroid question in writing. Others word it differently, and at least one asks about any steroid use unless it’s for asthma. Read every question in full. A materially wrong answer can let the insurer contest the policy, usually within the first two years, and can lead to a denied claim. An honest slip that wouldn’t have changed the decision is treated differently.
05 Can I get life insurance with COPD if I’m on oxygen?
It depends on whether you use oxygen now. If you do, guaranteed issue is often the realistic route: oxygen is a knockout on most no-medical forms and often a decline on fully underwritten coverage. If your oxygen use ended years ago, some no-medical plans may still be open, since their lookback runs 5 or 10 years. Is it COPD, or COPD requiring oxygen? Two very different paths. If pulmonary hypertension is also involved, that’s assessed on its own as well.
06 Can I get term life insurance with COPD after 70?
Sometimes, yes. Assumption Life Platinum Protection Term, for example, currently issues a 10-year term at ages 71 to 75 for $25,000 to $500,000, subject to its health questions. Product rules change, so confirm when you apply. I placed one for a 71-year-old smoker with mild COPD on an inhaler only. More options in our guide to insurers for seniors.
07 What’s the best life insurance for someone with COPD?
There isn’t one answer. It depends on severity, smoking, the three no-medical questions, your age and how much coverage you need. A fully underwritten policy often costs less if you qualify, so I check that first. The life insurance companies we work with each read COPD files differently.
08 I was diagnosed after my policy started. Do I have to tell the insurer?
Not if the policy is already in force. A policy that’s been placed stays valid if you’re diagnosed later, as long as your original application was answered truthfully. Timing matters, though. Most applications and delivery forms include a declaration that your health hasn’t changed since you applied. If it has, tell the insurer before the policy is placed, and follow whatever that declaration requires. The diagnosis also matters if you apply for new or additional coverage. That’s one reason to review your policy before its conversion deadline.
General information only, not advice for your specific situation. Outcomes depend on the full application. More general questions are answered on our life insurance FAQs page.
Getting Started: Check Your COPD File Before You Apply
To get started, gather your COPD details, medications, any hospital stays and your smoking dates. Then have a broker run anonymous checks with insurers before any application goes in.
The first conversation is an investigation to find out the entire picture, because the more information I have, the better I can advise on the best path forward. I’ve been able to get clients coverage with COPD where other providers said no. That came from having the full file first.
Have these ready for the first call
- When you were diagnosed, and how your doctor describes it (mild, moderate, severe)
- Every inhaler and medication, and any oral prednisone in the last year
- Hospital stays, and whether you were kept overnight
- Any oxygen use, past or present
- Your exact quit date if you’ve stopped smoking or vaping
- Any existing policy, and the conversion date printed on it
- Other health conditions alongside the COPD
Why a broker and not one insurer directly? One insurer can only offer its own products and its own wording. An independent broker compares many, in the same amount of time, at no cost to you. With COPD, wording is half the outcome. More on how buying life insurance works, how much coverage you need, and life insurance with other medical conditions.
Talk to a broker directly
Licensed in Ontario, British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. Life insurance and segregated fund solutions. Prefer email? Get in touch.
