Life Insurance Rates at Age 65 in Ontario

At 65, $500,000 of 20-year term life insurance for a healthy non-smoker in Ontario is indicatively $290–$370 a month for a woman and $360–$460 a month for a man, from the insurers that still issue 20-year term at this age. A 10-year term is roughly half of that. These are illustrative ranges, not quotes; your rate depends on your health class, nicotine use, the amount and product you choose, and which of the 30+ Canadian insurers we work with takes the friendliest view of a 65-year-old with your file.

Most people asking this question are at or just past retirement. Group life from work has ended or is about to. The mortgage may or may not be gone. And the questions have shifted from “what would my family live on” to “what will my estate owe, and what do I want to leave.” This article covers what’s still on the shelf at 65, what it costs, how to match the product to the purpose, and what underwriting looks like when you’re a retiree rather than an employee.

Is life insurance still available at 65?

Yes, and more of it than most people expect. What changes is the menu.

• 10-year term: widely available, running to 75. Usually the cheapest way to cover a dated obligation.
• 15- and 20-year term: available from many insurers at 65, though maximum issue ages for 20-year term cluster around this point, so the choice of carrier matters more than at 55.
• 25- and 30-year term: not issued at 65.
• Term-100: widely available. Level premium for life, no expiry, no cash value.
• Whole life: widely available to healthy applicants at 65, with guaranteed cash value and, in participating policies, dividends.
• Simplified-issue and guaranteed-issue: available, often up to age 75–80, for smaller amounts with no exam.
• Final-expense policies: small permanent policies, typically $5,000–$50,000, designed for funeral and estate costs. See final expense insurance in Canada.

The shelf keeps shrinking after 65. Between 70 and 75, most insurers stop issuing new term coverage altogether and permanent coverage becomes the only fully underwritten option. That’s a strong argument for deciding now rather than in a few years.

Life insurance cost at 65 by coverage amount

Illustrative monthly premiums for 20-year level term at age 65, healthy non-smoker, standard health class, from insurers that issue 20-year term at this age:

Coverage amount	Female (monthly, indicative)	Male (monthly, indicative)
$250,000	~$155–$200	~$195–$250
$500,000	~$290–$370	~$360–$460
$1,000,000	~$550–$720	~$700–$900

Indicative only. Smokers can expect roughly 1.7–2.5× these figures. Applicants who earn a preferred class may fall below the low end; rated applicants will be above the high end. Rates change and depend on the applicant and insurer.

These are meaningful monthly amounts, and it’s fair to ask whether a $500,000 death benefit is really what you need at 65. Often it isn’t. A needs calculation at this age frequently lands at $150,000 to $300,000 once the mortgage is gone and the children are independent, and a smaller policy is far easier to carry through retirement. Our guide to how much life insurance you need applies just as well at 65 as at 35.

Term options at 65: 10, 20 or lifelong

Here is the same $500,000 policy across the products a 65-year-old can realistically buy.

Product	Female (monthly, indicative)	Male (monthly, indicative)	Coverage runs to	Notes
10-year term	~$150–$200	~$190–$250	Age 75	Widely available
20-year term	~$290–$370	~$360–$460	Age 85	Carrier-dependent at 65
30-year term	Not offered	Not offered	—	Not issued at 65
Term-100	~$550–$720	~$700–$900	Lifetime	Level premium, no cash value

Illustrative ranges, healthy non-smoker, standard class. Term-100 pricing varies considerably by insurer and may carry lower maximum face amounts than term.

Look at the relationship between the 20-year term and Term-100. At 65, Term-100 costs roughly 1.8–2× the 20-year premium. But a 20-year term bought at 65 expires at 85, and Canadians who reach 65 in good health quite often live past 85. If the purpose of the coverage is to be there when you die, a 20-year term at this age carries a real chance of ending before it’s needed. Term-100 removes that risk for a premium that’s higher but not wildly so. Our Term-100 guide goes through the comparison in detail.

The 10-year term is a different animal. It’s for a need that ends: the last decade of a mortgage, a business loan, the gap before a spouse’s pension starts or a bridge until a RRIF is drawn down enough that the tax on it is manageable.

What changes at 65

Several things happen around 65 that reshape the insurance picture.

Group life ends or drops. Most employer plans terminate life coverage at retirement or reduce it sharply at 65. If you’re retiring now, the 1–2× salary you’ve relied on for decades is going away. Some plans allow conversion to an individual policy within a short window (commonly 31 days) without a medical, at a premium that is usually higher than a standard underwritten policy. Read our guide on replacing group benefits when leaving a job before that window closes.

Income becomes pension, CPP and OAS. A surviving spouse typically receives a fraction of a defined-benefit pension and a modest CPP survivor benefit, and the deceased spouse’s OAS stops. For couples where one pension is much larger than the other, this gap is the most common reason to hold term coverage into the 70s.

The estate takes centre stage. On the death of the last spouse, the RRIF is fully taxable in that year and a cottage or rental property is deemed sold. Ontario’s Estate Administration Tax adds roughly 1.5% on the value above $50,000. Life insurance paid to a named beneficiary is generally received tax-free and outside the estate, which makes it the standard tool for paying those bills without selling assets. Our article on how life insurance fits into estate planning explains the structures.

Insurance for retirement as a whole shifts. Health and dental, travel coverage for longer trips, and what OHIP does and doesn’t cover after 65 all move at the same time. Our guide to insurance for retirement: what changes at 65 takes the wider view.

Matching the product to the purpose

At 65, the fastest way to choose is to name the purpose first and let it pick the product.

Purpose	How long it lasts	Product that usually fits
Remaining mortgage or loan	Until paid off, usually under 10 years	10-year term
Spouse’s income gap until their own pension/OAS	Fixed number of years	10- or 20-year term
Business buy-sell or personal guarantee	Until exit from the business	10- or 20-year term
Funeral and final costs	Lifetime	Final-expense or small Term-100
Tax on RRIF, cottage or rental on death	Lifetime	Term-100 or whole life
Equalizing an estate among children	Lifetime	Whole life or Term-100
Legacy to grandchildren or charity	Lifetime	Participating whole life

Many 65-year-olds end up with two policies: a term policy sized to the temporary need and a smaller permanent policy for the lifelong one. That combination almost always costs less than covering everything with permanent insurance. Our term vs. whole life comparison and whole life insurance page cover the permanent side.

Underwriting at 65: exams, doctor’s reports and the no-medical route

For a fully underwritten policy at 65, plan on:

• A paramedical exam at your home: height, weight, blood pressure, blood and urine.
• An Attending Physician’s Statement, which most insurers request at this age. It’s a summary from your family doctor’s records and can take two to four weeks to arrive, so it’s worth telling your doctor’s office to expect the request.
• Possibly an ECG for larger face amounts, depending on the carrier.
• Prescription-history and MIB checks, which are automatic.

Conditions that are common at 65 and usually insurable when well managed include treated hypertension, cholesterol on medication, controlled Type 2 diabetes (typically rated), treated sleep apnea, osteoarthritis and joint replacements, and many cancers once the insurer’s remission period has passed. What’s different at 65 is the variance: one insurer’s standard is another’s rated, and one carrier’s postpone is another’s approval. That gap is where a broker earns their keep. Our underwriting explainer walks through the process, and life insurance for seniors in Canada covers the older-applicant angle.

If you’d rather not go through the exam, or you’ve been declined, simplified-issue policies ask health questions but need no exam, and guaranteed-issue policies ask nothing at all. Both cost more per dollar of coverage and cap the amount, often well under $500,000, and guaranteed issue usually returns premiums rather than paying the full benefit for natural-cause death in the first two years. For a healthy 65-year-old, full underwriting produces the lowest premium by a wide margin. Our no-medical life insurance guide lays out the options.

Waiting past 65

The five years between 65 and 70 are the most expensive years to wait in the whole life-insurance curve, for three reasons:

1. Price. Term premiums continue to rise steeply, and Term-100 and whole life at 70 cost meaningfully more than at 65.
2. Availability. Many insurers stop issuing 20-year term between 65 and 70, and some stop all term by 70 or 75.
3. Conversion deadlines. If you hold an older term policy, the conversion privilege often ends at 65, 70 or 71. Converting before the deadline is the only guaranteed way to move to permanent coverage without new medical evidence. Our guide on how to convert term to permanent explains what to check.

For context on where 65 sits on the curve, see life insurance rates at age 60, and for the broader picture, life insurance cost in Ontario and the average cost of life insurance in Canada.

Next step

Hayes Family Insurance is an independent, family-run brokerage in Ottawa, regulated by FSRA and serving Ontario since 1996. At 65, the value of working with us is knowing which insurers still issue the term you want, which ones underwrite the conditions in your file most generously, and how to size a permanent policy to an estate without overpaying. We compare term life insurance and permanent coverage from 30+ Canadian insurers, and there is no fee for our advice.

Compare quotes from 30+ Canadian insurers in about two minutes, free and with no obligation: get your quote. Or contact us and a licensed Ontario advisor will help you sort the term needs from the permanent ones before you apply.