Stressed over critical illness cover

Cee

Having just sorted out a remortgage and with just days before its complete the independant FA contacted me on Friday to say that Bright Grey who was going to be my insurance on life/ crit illness has just bumped up my premium from £47 to £71 for £125k cover.

Why? you ask, well my application clearly states I do not smoke, drink, have no medication for anything and the only drawback is apparently my BMI yes i've got to pay £30 cuz i'm overweight, I may as well have a doctor to say to me now that if i don't lose weight I'll be dead in 6 months cuz its just the way its made me feel.

I've been struggling with losing weight this year because we were going to move house and I was busy packing etc so the diet just wavered. But i'll be damned if a pen pusher is going to do this to me just cuz i'm not fit.


What the next excuse going to be, screen people who i call friends just in case they are a health risk to me?

homer_j_3

what you have to understand is that the life companies are a bit like bookies and use a lot of statistical data to make a risk assessment on the likelhood of them paying out.

You are 4 times as likely to be diagnosed with a specified critical illness before the age of 65 than die - hence life cover will be roughly 1/4 of the critical illness cover. Where you are overweight, you are statistically more likely to get a critical illness. This is nothing personal or discriminatory against you.

Clearly you are upset by the fact that someone has told you what you already knew but unfortunately thats the way it is - you have 4 choices from here:

1. Take a lesser amount of cover to fit your budget (some is better than none)
2. Accept the price as you realise then benefit of the cover
3. Ask your FA to see if anybody else will cover you for less in relation to this cover
4. Take no cover whatsoever(which really shouldnt be an option as if anything was to happen, you would be stuffed)

If you are successful in losing weight say over the next 1-2 years then you can always reapply again when your mortgage comes for renewal and the loss of weight should offset any price increases due to age.

Ali-OK

I can really emphathise with this. I have the opposite problem - very slim build with light bone structure but am quite tall. Therefore my BMI is below the range for my height and yep, I too am penalised for it.

I usually keep quiet as having this problem doesn't attract sympathy, but always requires the assurance company to refer to my GP for medical history, in which there is nothing to report.

dunstonh

Height & Weight ratio is increasingly becoming a concern for life expectancy and critical illness. Insurance companies believe that you are a higher risk and have repriced your cover accordingly.

But i'll be damned if a pen pusher is going to do this to me just cuz i'm not fit.

You have a choice. Bury your head in the sand and blame others or take action yourself. You know you are not fit so why not do something about it? That premium increase is quite big for height/weight ratio adjustment (normally closer to 10-20% increase) so I really would take this seriously as a jump of that size means the insurance company is more than normal.

Go to your GP and see if they can help.

Cee

Ali - I too was thinking along the lines about people who are overweight because of an health issue, would that mean their premium would be even more because of both?

Never thought of the opposite side of the coin either.

Homer, I already have a policy that will cover 80k I'm considering keeping this and taking out a life policy for another 80k to cover the shortfall and leave my family comfortable.

I just cant match the cost of the quote and expect to feed the family at the same time, I think thats my main gripe, its enough finding the money for the m'gage and insurance but when they add that much of a premium to your already tight budget its not funny.

I have every intention of losing the weigh as i've already stated, and will re-asses financial matters when I can at least i will have some cover in the mean time.

I understand insurance companies risk factors but its only in the last 5 years critical illness cover ever passed my ears if you get my drift.

Having read Martins site, its probably a good thing to take out accident, sickness cover incase just in case, but my Independant FA knows i work for the health service and I get my wage paid for 6 months followed by half pay for the rest of the first year, so he thinks I don't need it.

I tried explaining a situation of critical illness keeping me off work longer, therefore not having any would leave me with nothing after a year but the 80 k i have covered and thats assuming its a critical illness I would be out of work for. All that aside If i'm not mistaken they would only cover me for a few years tops anyway - enough time to die and get the life cover lol

Cee

dunstonh wrote: »

You have a choice. Bury your head in the sand and blame others or take action yourself. You know you are not fit so why not do something about it?

I already said i'd started to do this before I decided to move house, it was the rise in interest rates that made me decide to go for a remortgage instead.

I thought we'd be saving money as we have a loan on the house as well as existing mortgage, in total out of the 125k we are remortgaging we are needing 95k to clear our debt problem.

We've endured being offered a medium rate m'gage because of our credit history, my partner smokes so his life cover is going from £29 pm to over £100.
I pay £35 for the £80k cover now and was quoted £47, and my weight wasn't even an issue 4 years ago.

We've struggled quite a few years to get on top of the debt problem and thanks to the housing market it gave us our last chance yet we are still going to be as skint every month as we are now.

We don't go out drinking, our pleasure is our internet and at the moment the incredibly annoying virgin media. We take our days out in the car for some much needed r n r, and all i ask is for the world to give me a break!

I'm really trying and was hoping this was the last turn of the wheel to get us back on our feet again. Its ever likely I turn to the odd bun for a bit of comfort but at least i don't burn my money away.

I'm one of the hundreds of women who comfort eat if feeling down, if you've lived my life for the past 7 years you would understand. As you dont know me from adam, i'll give you a break when you tell me that i could just bury my head in the sand, i've been in the quicksand but never been buried in it

dunstonh

Having read Martins site, its probably a good thing to take out accident, sickness cover incase just in case, but my Independant FA knows i work for the health service and I get my wage paid for 6 months followed by half pay for the rest of the first year, so he thinks I don't need it.

ASU is a waste of money in your case. You dont need the unemployment cover and your sick pay would stop the bulk of the money being paid out for the first 6 months and most of the remainder. A PHI policy would be better but that would also suffer the height/weight ratio problem.

The IFA is giving you the correct advice.

You could ask the IFA to reduce his commission as he was expecting to be paid on a £47pm premium, not £71. You could also ask the IFA to get a requote from BG on a reduced amount of critical illness. Maybe 10% life cover, 50% critical illness. This would then give you something at a more affordable premium.

DrFluffy

dunstonh wrote: »

Height & Weight ratio is increasingly becoming a concern for life expectancy and critical illness. Insurance companies believe that you are a higher risk and have repriced your cover accordingly.

BMI is not a 'medical' invention - it was devised by a US insurance company to assign risk of critical illness...

Being overweight does but you at a much higher risk of all kinds of things though - diabetes and all its complications, osteoarthritis, heart disease, stroke, etc... OP - if it's not too cheaky, how high is your BMI? 'Overweight' means little you could have a BMI of 26 or 45!!!! Very different things in terms of risk...

olly300

Overweight' means little you could have a BMI of 26 or 45!!!! Very different things in terms of risk...

If your BMI is over 25 then you are overweight if your BMI is over 30 then you are obese. http://www.who.int/dietphysicalactivity/publications/facts/obesity/en/

Insurers apparently start charging higher premiums once your BMI gets to 28.
http://www.uknetguide.co.uk/Finance/Article/Overweight_people_pay_more_for_insurance.html

I suggest OP instead of just worrying about what you eat by going on a diet, which is unlikely to work long term anyway, you take some steps to become more active. (Walking and running are free. Cycling costs the price of a bike.) Being thin alone will not stop you suffering or dying from heart disease.

Ali-OK

So given all the advice about higher premiums for the higher BMI's, whatabout the so-called underweight/low BMIs? I'm fit, healthy, eat healthily and other than putting on weight by over-eating or eating fatty foods to bring me up to a BMI "norm", I can't see how I can help myself?

I don't suppose it helped that when my GP did a report some years ago, he correctly included many blood pressure checks, hospital stay, etc..but failed to advise this was for pregnancy and birth.:rolleyes: Erm...quite standard then!

Ideas anyone, as I am in reviewing my current cover and want to do it before I hit the big 40!

Cee

Having lost just under 2 stone earlier this year I do know what the charts are when it comes to BMI and all the IFA asked me over the phone was "you know what bmi is don't you?"

Will have to go check out what mine is and exercise is on the top of my list first of all, I know getting more active is the key to losing more weight anyway.

I decided to keep the current life cover for 80k and ask the IFA about getting a life cover for another 80k for now. Seems the best option and that way, giving the quotes i've got on moneysupermarket.co.uk, i'd only have to pay around an extra £10 which would bring my premiums to the original price.

I'll let you know the outcome..