Disability insurance designed to cover a business's overhead expenses will allow it to cover its recurring costs in the event of the owner's incapacity. A handful of insurers offer this product, which covers a wide range of expenses, from employee salaries to office costs, including rent, mortgage, electricity, heating, water, cleaning, and maintenance. Machinery payments and property insurance premiums are also included, as well as several other expenses, such as property taxes and various other taxes.
The business can receive up to several thousand dollars per month in disability benefits while the owner recovers. The Business overhead expense insurance products comparative table, prepared for the Insurance Portal by InsuranceINTEL, the insurance product information centre of the Insurance Journal Publishing Group, provides the details below.
Pressure on business costs
In its statement on maintaining the key interest rate at 2.25%, released on March 18, the Bank of Canada wrote that since the outbreak of the conflict in the Middle East, global oil and natural gas prices have skyrocketed, which will drive up global inflation in the short term. “Bottlenecks stemming from the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz could impact the supply of other commodities, such as fertilizer,” the Canadian central bank added in its statement.
Business Overhead Expense insurance could help ease the economic pressure exacerbated by the current climate of uncertainty worldwide. The outbreak of armed conflict between the United States and Iran has abruptly brought geopolitics back to the forefront of global economic concerns.
The Insurance Journal Publishing Group will host a panel discussion on geopolitical risks at its Journée de l’assurance de dommages 2026, a French-language event taking place at the Palais des congrès de Montréal on Tuesday, March 31.
Meanwhile, climate change is accelerating, and everyone must adapt, as inaction could be costly, as revealed in an article published in the Insurance Portal on February 10, 2026. In its 2026-2027 Budget Plan, Quebec Finance Minister Éric Girard allocated additional funds to the Rénoclimat and LogisVert programs. For example, the $125 million to be invested over four years in LogisVert aims to help owners of multi-unit residential buildings install heat pumps. Financial assistance from this program was previously limited to owners of single-family homes or condominium apartments.
According to the March 2026 Business Barometer index published by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB), cost pressures continue to significantly impact business growth prospects. Insurance costs are the top pressure, cited by 65% of the 651 CFIB member companies surveyed for the index.
This is higher than the pressure from other overhead costs, including occupancy costs. Occupancy costs include rent, mortgage, property taxes, and maintenance. They are perceived as a major pressure by 47% of respondents. Product input and raw material costs are a primary concern for 44% of respondents.
Ideal for SMEs and solopreneurs
According to the comparison chart prepared by InsuranceINTEL, four companies offer at least one business overhead expense insurance product: Canada Life, Humania Insurance, iA Financial Group, and RBC Insurance. iA Financial Group offers two.
Humania Assurance appears in the comparison chart for the first time this year. Its data was entered into our product information centre on September 30, 2025.
According to information in the InsuranceINTEL database, Canada Life positions its Overhead Expense Plan as a product that is ideally suited to those running their own practice or fee-for-service business.
Humania Assurance indicates that its Payments Insurance - Accident & Sickness product is designed for all individuals with financial responsibilities who work at least 35 weeks a year, and 21 hours a week. The mutual insurance company targets self-employed and home-based workers, as well as business owners.
iA Financial Group offers its Superior Program product (Business Overhead Expense protection available as an option) to self-employed individuals, employees, and business owners. Its Acci-Jet Program product (Business Overhead Expense protection available as an option) targets self-employed individuals, entrepreneurs, and small businesses.
For RBC Insurance, its Business Overhead Expense Insurance is most vital for “businesses and practices in which the owner’s ability to come to work makes the difference between the office being open or closed for business," according to the InsuranceINTEL database. "Ideal prospects are physicians, lawyers, accountants, engineers and other individuals who own firms that depend on the owner’s ability to generate income to pay the bills,” the insurer adds.
From $500 to $30,000 each month
The minimum and maximum amounts of disability benefits vary considerably from one insurer to another. In the InsuranceINTEL database, two insurers indicated that they can provide a client with a minimum benefit of $500 per month: Canada Life and Humania Assurance.
The following comparison table examines, among other things, the maximum monthly benefits offered by insurers. Traditional players in non-cancellable disability insurance, Canada Life and RBC Insurance, stand out for their generosity, each offering a maximum benefit of $30,000.
For its part, Acci-Jet, one of the two products offered by iA Financial Group, has the lowest maximum monthly benefit of $6,000. This product targets policyholders who only want coverage in the event of an accident. However, its Superior Program product can offer a benefit of up to $15,000. Humania Assurance's product, on the other hand, offers a maximum monthly benefit of $10,000.
Both iA products and Humania Assurance's product target a higher-risk clientele than those of other competitors. For example, iA Financial Group's Superior Program will pay up to $7,000 to business owners in occupational class B. Canada Life, however, will limit its benefit to $3,500 for workers in this category.
According to our research in the InsuranceINTEL database, Humania Assurance and iA Financial Group are the only ones to offer business overhead expense insurance coverage to business owners in professional class C. Canada Life’s coverage only extends up to category B, while RBC Insurance does not go beyond category A.
Generally speaking, category 4A designates senior executives who act, for example, as managers or administrators, and professionals who are members of a professional order, such as doctors, engineers, lawyers, and notaries.
Occupation class 3A designates other professionals and employees who hold very stable jobs, assume significant responsibilities, and work exclusively in an office or from home.
Occupation class 2A includes supervisors, certain technicians, and skilled workers who do not perform manual labor, or perform very little manual labor.
Occupation class A (sometimes identified as 1A in the disability insurance market) designates skilled manual workers who are not exposed to any particular risks in their work.
Occupation classes B and C include workers who are exposed to the greatest hazards. In a guide for its advisors on its Superior Program product, iA Financial Group makes the following distinction between these two classes: class B business owners are considered to be at high risk, while those in class C represent a very high risk. The insurer gives the example of roofers, in class B, and miners, in class C. It requires business owners in classes 2A to C to devote no more than 20% of their time to physical labor.
