Manulife review

We rate Manulife for life insurance, health insurance and travel insurance. Each line is scored separately on the same six-pillar Expert Score, because a company can be strong in one and mid-pack in another — Manulife ranks #1 of 10 for life insurance, its strongest showing. The sections below break down each line on its own merits.

On the evidence, yes: Manulife holds an A+ (Superior), ICR aa- financial-strength rating from AM Best (Dec 2025) — an independent agency’s verdict on its ability to pay claims. Also DBRS AA. Canada’s largest life insurer.

Manulife stands out for wellness rewards & buy-online or advisor. Largest insurer, A+ (Superior) financial strength, and unique Vitality wellness program can lower premiums. If those things matter most to you, it’s worth a close look; if your priority is something else, compare it against the companies that rate highest on that pillar.

The watch-outs we found: direct / no-medical priced above underwritten; vitality mechanics add complexity. We spell these out so you can weigh them before buying — every insurer has trade-offs, and knowing them upfront is the point of a real review.

Manulife ranks #1 of the 10 life insurance providers we scored, at 88/100. It’s strongest on financial strength and has the most room to improve on customer satisfaction.

Only if you will use it. Vitality Plus costs roughly $6 per month on top of your Family Term premium and rewards tracked healthy activity with premium reductions, gift cards and lower management fees. It is not a discount you receive automatically — you have to log activity through the app to earn status. If you already wear a fitness tracker and will sync it, the program can more than repay the $6. If you know you will stop logging after two months, buy plain Family Term and put the $6 toward more coverage instead.

They are two different distribution channels. Family Term is fully underwritten and advisor-sold: $100,000 to $20,000,000, terms of 10 or 20 years or to age 65, medical exam required, and it is where Manulife's competitive pricing lives. CoverMe is bought directly online with no advisor, offers a single 10-year term of $100,000 to $1,000,000 renewable to age 85, and provides up to $250,000 of instant coverage with no medical exam for ages 18 to 55. CoverMe premiums are noticeably higher — you are paying for speed and no exam.

Yes, and this is one of Manulife's stronger features. Family Term is convertible to Manulife permanent coverage, and CoverMe Term is convertible before age 70. Conversion means you exchange the term policy for a permanent one — Manulife Par, Performax Gold, InnoVision or another universal life chassis — at your original health rating, without re-underwriting. That matters if you develop a health condition during the term. The catch is that permanent premiums are far higher than term, so plan the conversion amount rather than converting the full face value.

Read what the reviews are about before you decide. The bulk of Manulife's roughly 565 Trustpilot reviews describe group benefits, drug plans and travel claims — high-frequency interactions that generate friction. An individual term policy has almost no touchpoints between issue and claim. The life-specific InsurEye page is more relevant at 1.8 out of 5 across 100 reviews, and it is still poor, mainly on reachability and follow-up. Manulife holds an A+ from AM Best, so the ability to pay a death claim is not the concern. Service is.

Up to $250,000 of instant coverage through CoverMe Term, if you are between 18 and 55. Above that, or outside that age band, Manulife will underwrite you: Family Term and all permanent products require a medical exam. Applicants aged 56 to 70 can still buy CoverMe but not on the instant no-exam basis. If you need more than $250,000 without an exam, Manulife is not the right shop — iA's Access Life goes to $500,000 on health questions alone, and Sun Life Go Term reaches $1,000,000 on simplified underwriting.

Ninety days from the date your employer group health coverage ends. Apply inside that window and acceptance is guaranteed with no medical questions, subject only to paying your first premium and meeting eligibility criteria. Miss it and FollowMe is off the table — you'd be applying to a medically underwritten Flexcare plan, where a pre-existing condition can mean exclusions, higher premiums or refusal. Note that some third-party sites still quote a 60-day window; Manulife's own current rate documentation says 90. If you're within a few days of the deadline, apply first and sort out the tier later.

Only Enhanced Plus and Premiere. FollowMe Basic and Enhanced carry no routine dental at all — a genuine surprise for people replacing a group plan, since dental is usually the benefit they used most. Enhanced Plus covers standard and extensive services at 80% with a maximum that escalates from $700 in year one to $1,000 by year three. Premiere runs $800 to $1,500 by year three and is the only tier including major dental, at 60% coinsurance and with a one-year waiting period. All tiers include accidental dental regardless.

Manulife escalates several benefit maximums across the first three benefit years — dental, medical equipment and home care all step up. It's an anti-selection defence: it discourages someone from buying the plan, immediately claiming a large expense, and cancelling. The practical consequence is that FollowMe is poor value as a short bridge between jobs and better value if you expect to hold it for years. If you know you'll have new group coverage in six months, you're paying for maximums you'll never reach.

Almost none. Manulife's rate documentation states the only benefit carrying a one-year waiting period is major dental on the Premiere plan. Drugs, vision, paramedical, hospital and routine dental on the tiers that include it are all claimable from your effective date. That's genuinely better than several competitors, who impose three- to twelve-month waits on dental generally. The trade-off is the escalating annual maximums described above — Manulife limits early exposure through low first-year caps rather than through waiting periods.

If you're within 90 days of losing group coverage, FollowMe, almost always — guaranteed acceptance without medical questions is worth more than any coverage difference, especially if anyone in the household has a health history. Flexcare is the right answer if you never had group benefits, if you're past the FollowMe window, or if you're healthy and want specific coverage FollowMe doesn't emphasise: ComboPlus Basic, for instance, allows generic drugs at 70% up to $5,000 a year, well above Premiere's $2,800. Flexcare asks health questions; Guaranteed Issue Enhanced is the no-underwriting fallback.

It is the single most consequential thing on a CoverMe policy and it is not on the marketing pages. Your answers to the medical questionnaire place you in a Rate Category, and the policy applies a different pre-existing condition exclusion to each. Rate Category A excludes conditions not stable in the three months before your effective date. Rate Categories B and C double that to six months, with matching six-month tests for heart conditions, nitroglycerine use, and lung conditions treated with oxygen or Prednisone. Two travellers with identical itineraries can therefore face different lookback windows. Check which category appears on your confirmation.

Yes. The CoverMe emergency medical policy states that if you do not call the assistance centre in an emergency, you will have to pay 20% of the eligible medical expenses Manulife would otherwise pay — a 20% co-insurance penalty. On a $200,000 US hospital bill that is a $40,000 personal exposure created purely by a missed phone call. The obligation is on you or someone acting for you, so program the assistance number into your phone and give it to a travelling companion. RBC applies a similar penalty at 30% on its Travel HealthProtector plans.

Not Manulife directly. The policy is underwritten by The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company, which has appointed Active Claims Management Inc., operating as Active Care Management, as the provider of all assistance and claims services. This matters when you read reviews: complaints about slow adjudication are about Active Care Management's process, while Manulife sets the policy terms those decisions are made under. It also means escalating a disputed claim can involve two organisations. If a dispute stalls, the OmbudService for Life and Health Insurance is the external route.

TravelEase is Manulife's individually medically underwritten emergency medical plan, designed for travellers whose pre-existing conditions do not meet the standard three- or six-month stability tests. Instead of banded rating, you complete a full medical questionnaire and Manulife reviews your health history before deciding. The emergency medical limit is still $10,000,000 CDN. It is worth pricing if you have had a medication change, a new diagnosis or a hospital admission in the past six months — but apply early, because the application including the questionnaire must be completed before your departure date.

The eligibility section rules out several groups regardless of price. As of both the application date and the effective date you must not have been advised by a physician to avoid travel, must not have a terminal illness or metastatic cancer, must not require kidney dialysis, must not have been prescribed or used home oxygen in the last twelve months, and must never have had a bone marrow, stem cell or organ transplant other than a corneal transplant. If any of these apply, buying a policy anyway gets you a premium refund and no coverage — you need a specialist high-risk insurer instead.