Life insurance for seniors in Canada: your options after 50, 60 and 70

You can still buy life insurance in your 50s, 60s and 70s in Canada, but three things change with age. The term lengths available shrink: many insurers offer a 20 year term only up to about age 65 and a 10 year term up to 70 or 75. Prices climb quickly, rising by roughly 70 to 100 percent every five years after 60. And the medical requirements grow, so a short-form product without an exam becomes worth comparing. The good news is that the amount most people need also shrinks, and your existing coverage may already be the best option you have.

What you can still buy at your age

Many Canadian insurers set the maximum issue age for a term policy at 85 minus the length of the term, and some stop earlier. That gives:

Amounts also narrow with age on the no-exam products. One insurer’s simplified issue plan offers up to $350,000 from age 61 to 80, another offers up to $500,000 from 51 to 75 and $250,000 from 76 to 80, and guaranteed issue is usually capped at $50,000 or less.

What it costs

Monthly premiums for $100,000 of 10 year term coverage, non smoker, standard health class:

The pattern matters more than any single number: after 60, the price of the same coverage rises by roughly 70 to 100 percent every five years. That makes waiting expensive, and it is why a shorter term sized to a real need usually beats a long term bought out of caution. Prices for younger ages and longer terms are in how much life insurance costs in Canada.

Medical requirements grow with age

For fully underwritten coverage, insurers ask for more evidence as age and amount rise. One insurer’s published requirements chart (2022) shows the pattern; other insurers set their own thresholds:

• From age 51, coverage of $100,000 or more needs a paramedical exam plus blood and urine tests.
• From age 61, a paramedical exam and urine test are needed even below $100,000.
• From age 66, an electrocardiogram is added from $250,000.

On that insurer’s shorter application, a nurse’s check of vital signs replaces the full paramedical exam.

Some insurers stop offering exam-free fully underwritten coverage altogether after 60. If you want to avoid an exam, simplified issue asks a short health questionnaire instead, with coverage that starts on day one if you qualify for the insurer’s top tier, in exchange for a higher price and a lower maximum. Some answers move you to a graded or deferred plan that pays in full only after two years. If health questions are the obstacle, our guides to no-medical life insurance and guaranteed issue life insurance cover how far each one goes.

How much coverage you need after 55

The need usually shrinks with age, because the mortgage is smaller and children are independent. What tends to remain:

• Debts that would outlive you, such as a remaining mortgage, a line of credit, or a co-signed loan.
• Final expenses. One major insurer estimates funeral and related costs at $7,000 to $15,000.
• Income your spouse would lose. Pension income often falls when one spouse dies. The CPP survivor’s pension for a survivor 65 or older is 60 percent of the deceased’s CPP retirement pension, subject to a combined maximum, and Old Age Security stops after the month of death.
• Taxes at death. On death you are treated as having sold your capital property at fair market value, and the full value of an RRSP or RRIF is taxable on the final return. Property and registered plans that pass to a surviving spouse or common-law partner can usually roll over tax deferred, so the bill often lands at the second death, and a principal residence is usually exempt. Our guide to life insurance and estate taxes explains how to size that bill.
• Gifts. Naming a charity as beneficiary of a life policy counts as a donation by your estate, and donations in the year of death can be claimed up to 100 percent of net income, with any excess carried back one year.

Debts and a spouse’s lost income are usually temporary and suit term coverage. Final expenses, the tax bill and any gift last for life, and they are the main case for Term 100 or whole life. Our life insurance calculator totals the amount.

Check the coverage you already have

Before applying for anything new, look at what you hold:

• An existing term policy can usually be renewed without new medical evidence, typically up to age 80 or 85, though renewal premiums are much higher. Our guide to what happens when term life insurance expires covers the options.
• A conversion privilege lets you switch term coverage to permanent coverage at your original health class, without medical evidence, before a deadline that is usually age 70 or 71, and 75 at the latest, depending on the insurer. The deadlines are listed in term life conversion deadlines.
• Group life through work can usually be converted to an individual policy without medical evidence within 31 days of the coverage ending, but the standard right ends at 65 and caps the amount, often at $200,000. If you retire before 65, act inside the window; see group life insurance conversion.

If your health has changed since you bought the policy, these rights are often worth more than anything newly available. And whatever you decide, never cancel the old policy first.

Government benefits at death are modest

• CPP death benefit. A one time, taxable payment of $2,500 for most people. A $2,500 top-up exists since 2025, but only where the person never received a CPP or QPP retirement or disability pension and left no spouse eligible for a survivor’s pension, which excludes most retirees. Details are in our guide to the CPP death benefit.
• CPP survivor’s pension. A monthly pension for a surviving spouse or common-law partner, with a 2026 maximum of $904.59 a month for survivors 65 and older.
• OAS and GIS. Paid for the month of death and then stopped. Any payment received after that month must be repaid.

In Quebec, the survivor’s pension and death benefit come from the Quebec Pension Plan through Retraite Québec instead, with different amounts and rules.

Frequently asked questions

Can I get life insurance at 70?

Yes. Many insurers issue 10 year term coverage up to 70 or 75 and Term 100 up to about 80. Simplified issue is available into your late seventies, and guaranteed issue typically to 75, though it pays in full for natural-cause deaths only after two years.

How much does life insurance cost at 60?

For $100,000 of 10 year term, roughly $33 a month for a woman and $45 for a man who is a non smoker, based on one provider’s published rates as of September 2026. Expect roughly three times that at 70.

Do I need a medical exam?

For fully underwritten coverage, increasingly yes as you age. Simplified issue and guaranteed issue products avoid the exam in exchange for smaller amounts and higher prices.

How much life insurance do I need at 60?

Usually less than at 40: debts that would outlive you, final expenses, income your spouse would lose, and any tax your estate would owe. Some of that need is temporary and some may be permanent.

Should I keep my old policy instead?

Check it first. Renewal and conversion need no new medical evidence and can beat a new application if your health has changed.

What to do next

Start with what you already hold and what your family actually needs, then compare what your age and health can buy. A licensed advisor can check your existing policy’s renewal and conversion terms and price the alternatives side by side.