UV Insurance in Canada: Term Superior+, whole life and AdapCI
UV is a small Quebec mutual that most English-speaking families have never heard of, yet its term and whole life plans come up in my comparisons more often than you might expect. Here is what it sells, the age and amount limits printed in its own fact sheets, and when I put it in front of a client.
Who UV Insurance is, in four sentences
UV Insurance is the trade name of The Union Life Mutual Assurance Company, a member-owned mutual with its head office in Drummondville, Quebec, that traces its roots to December 29, 1889. For individuals it sells Term Superior+ (10, 15, 20, 25 or 30 years), three whole life plans (Whole Life High Values, Adaptable and Whole Life Pay to 100), AdapCI critical illness for adults and children, and two children's plans, Early Learning and Juvenile 30/100. Up to $150,000, most of these can be bought on a questionnaire with no medical exam and no blood or urine samples.
From L'Union Saint-Joseph to UV: why the name keeps changing
If your bank's bill-payment list shows "UL Mutual" or "Union Life", that is the same company. It began in 1889 as L'Union Saint-Joseph, a joint fund set up by François-Xavier-Édouard Demers and twelve others to help members through illness or death. On April 1, 1957 it became The Union Life Mutual Insurance Company, later used the name UV Mutuelle, and has marketed itself as UV Insurance since the 2016 to 2022 period under Christian Mercier. It moved into a new head office along Highway 20 in Drummondville in 2020.
The member and asset figures are from Insurance Portal's report on UV's 2025 results. UV's FAQ says contract owners, which it calls mutualists, are equal members who can vote at the annual general meeting held every March. UV does not publish an AM Best rating on its site; it reports its capital under the Quebec regulator's rules and says it stayed above its own targets.
UV's individual plans, with the limits from its fact sheets
Every age and amount below comes from UV's advisor fact sheets (EN-1025, EN-1049, EN-1003, EN-1062, EN-1038, EN-1001) and its individual insurance pages, read on November 11, 2026. If UV doesn't print a number, I haven't filled one in.
| Type | UV plan | Ages and amounts UV publishes | The part I point out to clients |
|---|---|---|---|
| Term life | Term Superior+ 10, 15, 20 | Issue ages 18 to 65. From $25,000 on T-10 and T-15, from $10,000 on T-20. Individual or joint first-to-die. | After the first term it renews every 10 years until death, with renewal rates guaranteed in the contract. |
| Term life | Term Superior+ 25, 30 | T-25: ages 18 to 60. T-30: ages 18 to 55. From $10,000. | Conversion to whole life, in full or in part, up to the anniversary nearest age 70. |
| Whole life | Whole Life High Values | 20 years of payments. Issue ages 15 days to 75. From $10,000. Cash and paid-up values from the 10th anniversary. | UV says the cash value reaches 50% of the amount at 65, or after 20 payments for buyers aged 46 and up. |
| Whole life | Adaptable | Pay for 20 years, or to age 25, 35, 45, 55, 65, 75 or 85. Issue ages 15 days to 75. | An optional paid-up "Chapter B" can be added at issue or on the 3rd, 5th or 7th anniversary with no health questions. |
| Whole life | Whole Life Pay to 100 | Premiums to age 100. Issue ages up to 80. Cash value from the 5th anniversary. | The lowest-premium way into UV's permanent cover, and the one open to the oldest buyers. |
| Critical illness | AdapCI / AdapCI Juvenile | $10,000 to $2,000,000. Issue ages 30 days to 65. Regular underwriting only. 7 payment options. | Adult plan: 24 critical illnesses plus 4 conditions that pay 10%, up to $50,000. Juvenile: 31 illnesses. |
| Children | Early Learning | Babies 0 to 36 months. First year free, then renewed yearly. No eligibility questions. | Natural death cover to 25; accidental death, fractures and dismemberment for life. |
| Children | Juvenile 30/100 | Ages 15 days to 15. Simplified issue only. | Life cover plus a critical illness amount for 9 conditions, renewable into permanent cover at 30. |
| Riders | Credit insurance, waivers, AD&D, fracture, child rider, preapproved CI | Added to a UV life policy. Ages and limits differ by rider (see below). | A way to add a disability benefit to life cover without a separate application. |
The contract governs, and underwriting decides what is actually offered. These are non-participating plans: UV doesn't offer participating whole life, so there are no dividends. What you get instead is guaranteed premiums and guaranteed cash values. For background on the plan types, see my pages on term life insurance and whole life insurance.
How Term Superior+ behaves after you sign
Most people compare term plans on the first-year premium and stop there. With UV, three contract features are worth knowing before you decide, because they change what the policy can do for you at 50 or 65.
First, there is a one-time exchange. If you buy T-10, T-15, T-20 or T-25 and realise within the first five policy anniversaries that you need cover for longer, UV lets you swap once to a longer term without new health evidence. Say a 38-year-old takes T-15 because the budget is tight, then has a second child at 41. On UV, she can move that cover to a 25- or 30-year term without a new medical. Most insurers would make her apply again. The new term has to be longer than the original, and you only get one exchange.
Second, conversion. You can convert all or part of the term to UV whole life up to the contract anniversary nearest your 70th birthday, again with no health questions. On a T-30 bought at 45, that window closes years before the term ends, so I note the date in the file when the policy is issued.
Third, every Term Superior+ policy includes a Severe Loss of Independent Existence benefit at no extra cost. If, before the anniversary nearest age 60, you are diagnosed as permanently unable to do four of six daily activities (bathing, dressing, toileting, continence, transferring, feeding) without substantial help, UV pays 50% of the insurance amount, up to $100,000, while you are alive. It is not a substitute for critical illness or disability cover, but it is a real benefit few people know they have.
At the end of the first term the policy doesn't lapse. It renews every 10 years until death at premiums already set in the contract, with no new medical. Those renewal rates are much higher, so treat renewal as a backstop. If you know you need cover for 25 years, it is usually cheaper to buy 25 years now. My page on how much life insurance you need helps you set both the amount and the length.
Buying UV without a medical exam
This is where UV earns a place on my shortlist. Its Simplified Issue Express route covers all its term and whole life plans when the amount is $150,000 or less: you answer an eligibility questionnaire, UV checks the MIB database, and there is no paramedical exam and no blood or urine test. When the MIB check comes back clean, UV says an application can be accepted within a few hours to a few days, and the policy takes effect once the first premium is paid.
Above $150,000, Simplified Issue Immediate applies to Term Superior+ only, up to $499,999 between ages 18 and 45, up to $350,000 between 46 and 55 and up to $250,000 between 56 and 65. Past those amounts, or for whole life over $150,000, it is regular underwriting with the usual tests.
The catch is simple: these are yes-or-no questions, and one "yes" ends the simplified route. I go through the questions with you on the phone first, so we know whether UV is likely to approve before your name goes on an application.
AdapCI: a different way to build critical illness cover
AdapCI is not sold on the simplified route; it needs full underwriting. The adult plan covers 24 critical illnesses, loss of independent existence among them, plus 4 less severe conditions that pay 10% of the amount, up to $50,000. You choose from 7 payment periods.
The structure is unusual. "Chapter A" is the amount you buy, and it lasts as long as you pay premiums. You can add a "Chapter B", a paid-up amount that becomes permanent once payments stop, at issue or on the 3rd, 5th or 7th anniversary without new health questions. Premiums are refunded in full if the insured dies, and with Chapter B in place a partial or full refund while alive opens from the 10th anniversary.
There is also an extended disability benefit: if you meet UV's disability definition 24 months after a covered diagnosis that was paid, it pays 1% of the amount a month for 24 months, capped at $1,500 a month. AdapCI includes Teladoc's medical review and second-opinion service for you and your immediate family. For general pricing factors, see critical illness insurance.
Which UV plan fits your age?
Pick a goal, enter an age and say how your health looks. It lists the UV plans whose published age limits fit, and tells you when another insurer is the better place to look.
A planning aid based on UV's published age limits, not underwriting or advice. Pankaj compares UV with the other insurers he represents before recommending anything.
UV for children: three plans, three different jobs
Early Learning is for babies up to 36 months. UV gives the first year free, asks no health questions, and then renews it each year. It covers natural death to age 25, and accidental death, accidental fractures, dismemberment and some medical costs after an accident for life. Think of it as a small starter policy, not the main plan.
Juvenile 30/100 is sold from 15 days to 15 years, on the simplified route only. It pairs life cover with a critical illness amount for nine conditions: stroke, cancer, heart attack, coronary bypass surgery, cerebral palsy, congenital heart disease, cystic fibrosis, muscular dystrophy and type 1 diabetes. Premiums run to 30, the life amount can rise by 10% of the original at each of the first ten anniversaries (you can turn that off), and at 30 both parts renew into permanent cover at rates already guaranteed. UV's example shows $100,000 of life with $10,000 of critical illness.
AdapCI Juvenile is the heavier option: 31 critical illnesses, including autism, cerebral palsy, congenital heart disease, cystic fibrosis, muscular dystrophy, Rett syndrome and type 1 diabetes, with full underwriting. Parents who want a large childhood CI amount usually end up comparing this with one or two other insurers' child CI plans. A child can also be added to a parent's UV policy with the Child Rider: $20,000 of term life per child, issued from 14 days to age 17, convertible at 25 for up to $100,000.
Disability and other add-ons: what UV actually offers
UV's "disability and additional coverage" page lists riders on a life policy, not a standalone income replacement plan. That distinction matters if your main worry is paying the bills while you can't work.
The Credit Insurance Rider pays a monthly benefit if you become totally disabled: at least $300 and at most $3,500 a month, and never more than 1.5% of the life amount. The waiting period is 30 days after an accident, a hospital stay over 18 hours or day surgery, and 90 days otherwise, paid back to day 31. Depending on the plan and underwriting route, it pays for 2 or 5 years, or to 65. It ends at 65.
The waiver of premium riders keep the policy in force without payments if you are totally disabled (issue ages 18 to 55, six-month waiting period), or if the owner or payer dies. A separate loss of employment waiver, issued at 18 to 50, covers up to 12 months of premiums per 5-year period after a 30-day wait, for layoffs from work shortage, mergers, strikes or lock-outs, and for pregnancy. Preapproved Critical Illness pays $1,000 a month for up to 24 months after a heart attack, stroke or cancer, but only if the life cover was approved at a standard or better rate under regular underwriting. AD&D (issue to 55) and Accidental Fracture (issue to 60) round out the list.
If losing your income is the real risk, a rider like this is a top-up. A proper plan is covered on my disability insurance page.
When I would put UV on the shortlist
- You want up to $150,000 of term or whole life and would rather skip the nurse visit and blood test.
- You are 46 to 65 and want term cover of $250,000 to $350,000 on a questionnaire only.
- You might need a longer term later and like having a one-time exchange in the first five years.
- You want whole life with a choice of payment periods, from 20 years to age 85.
- You are 76 to 80 and want permanent cover with level premiums to 100.
- Quebec relatives who want a policy from a Quebec-based mutual.
Where UV falls short
- No standalone individual disability plan; only riders on life policies.
- Term Superior+ isn't issued past 65, and T-30 stops at 55.
- Its universal life plan, Ulysses 2000, is closed to new business.
- AdapCI always needs full underwriting.
- Service is by phone, email and online portal; the head office has no walk-in counter.
- A small insurer by Canadian standards, with no AM Best rating shown on its site.
What about universal life with UV?
UV's advisor document centre still carries gross return figures for Ulysses 2000, its universal life plan, but marks it closed to new business. Existing Ulysses owners keep their contracts and can call UV at 1-800-567-0988 about their values. If you want universal life today, I can quote it from the other insurers I work with and show it next to a UV whole life plan, so you can see what the flexible deposits and investment accounts do, and don't do, for your situation.
How a UV application works with me
UV sells individual insurance through advisors, and the premium is UV's, so it is the same whether you go through me or anyone else. What you get from me is the comparison and the paperwork done right.
1. Questions before the application
We go through your health answers, the amount and the term first. If UV's simplified questions are a clean "no", Express can move fast; if not, I tell you which insurer is more likely to say yes.
2. Priced against others
I set the UV figure next to Assumption Life, Humania, Wawanesa, iA, Empire Life, Manulife and the rest, for the same amount and term.
3. Dates in your file
Once issued, I record your exchange window (first five anniversaries) and conversion deadline (nearest age 70), and help later with beneficiaries and, if needed, claims.
Living in Quebec? I'm not licensed there, but you can still call me and I will arrange the policy for you. In Ontario, Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia I handle it myself.
What people ask me about UV Insurance
Is UV Insurance the same company as Union Life or UL Mutual?
Yes. UV Insurance is the business name of The Union Life Mutual Assurance Company, a mutual based in Drummondville, Quebec, founded in 1889 as L'Union Saint-Joseph.
Older bills and banking payee lists may still show UL Mutual or Union Life. UV's own FAQ tells clients to search under those names when setting up online payments.
I live in Quebec. Can Pankaj help me buy a UV policy?
Yes. Pankaj is not licensed in Quebec, but Quebec residents can call him at (647) 640-2222 and he will arrange the policy.
He handles it directly for residents of Ontario, Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.
Can I get UV life insurance without a medical exam?
Yes, up to $150,000 on its term and whole life plans through Simplified Issue Express, which uses a questionnaire and an MIB check with no exam or fluids.
Term Superior+ can go higher on the Immediate route: up to $499,999 at ages 18 to 45, $350,000 at 46 to 55 and $250,000 at 56 to 65. AdapCI critical illness always needs full underwriting.
Can I switch my UV term to a longer term later?
Once. T-10, T-15, T-20 and T-25 can be exchanged for a longer term on the 1st to 5th policy anniversary without new health evidence.
Separately, you can convert all or part of the term to UV whole life up to the contract anniversary nearest your 70th birthday.
Does UV Insurance sell universal life?
Not to new buyers. UV lists its universal life plan, Ulysses 2000, as closed to new business.
Pankaj quotes universal life from other insurers and can show it beside a UV whole life plan such as Adaptable or Whole Life Pay to 100.
What is the oldest age UV will insure?
For life insurance, 80, on Whole Life Pay to 100. Whole Life High Values and Adaptable go to 75, and Term Superior+ to 65.
AdapCI critical illness is issued up to 65. Above those ages Pankaj looks at insurers with plans for older applicants.
Written by Pankaj Bhatia, PFA, CHS
Licensed insurance & financial advisor · Insure In Canada Inc. · Mississauga & Cambridge, Ontario
I have spent 11 years in financial services and placed more than 1,250 life insurance policies. UV Insurance is one of the insurers I sell, so I can price it against the others in the same conversation and tell you plainly when it is not the best fit. I am licensed in Ontario, Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, and I help Quebec residents who call me arrange their policy.
Call 647-640-2222 · WhatsApp · Pankaj@InsureInCanada.ca · About Pankaj
Ready to see a UV figure?
Tell me the age, smoker or not, the amount and the term or payment period. I'll send the UV price and the two or three closest alternatives.
Where I checked UV's details
- UV Insurance: Term and whole life insurance
- UV Insurance: Individual insurance products (advisor space)
- Fact sheet EN-1025: Term Superior+
- Fact sheet EN-1049: Whole Life High Values
- Fact sheet EN-1003: Adaptable
- Fact sheet EN-1062: Whole Life Pay to 100
- Fact sheet EN-1038: AdapCI and AdapCI Juvenile
- Fact sheet EN-1001: Juvenile 30/100
- UV Insurance: Insurance for children (Early Learning)
- Fact sheet EN-1035: Additional coverages (riders)
- UV Insurance: Simplified issue (Express and Immediate)
- UV Insurance: Documentation centre (Ulysses 2000 closed to new business)
- UV Insurance: Individual insurance FAQ
- UV Insurance: Our history
- UV Insurance at a glance (EN-1027)
- Insurance Portal: UV's 2025 results
Compare UV with these insurers
- Assumption Life
- Humania
- Wawanesa Life
- Desjardins
- Beneva
- Canada Protection Plan
- iA Financial Group
- Empire Life
- Equitable Life
- Manulife
Independent guide by Pankaj Bhatia, a licensed advisor; not published by UV Insurance or The Union Life Mutual Assurance Company. Plan names, ages and amounts are summarized from UV's published pages and fact sheets as of November 11, 2026 and can change. The policy contract governs.