Life insurance when you have pre existing medical conditions

Lour_2

Hi All

I am hoping for a bit of advice. I am 36 & have a few medical conditions (asthma, epilepsy both controlled & an autoimmune condition which I attend a specialist for) & I already have a life insurance & critical illness policy with Friends Provident for a flat that I own with my husband (we rent it out). We also have another property which I need cover for. Long story short we went through a broker who tried to get us joint cover for both properties with my existing provider Friends Provident but they have declined my application on the basis I still see a specialist for my autoimmune condition but I always will need to monitored to ensure my meds are working correctly. They did accept my husbands application. Where do i from here? I still have the existing policy for the rental property which I think I am best to keep.

Has anyone been in a similar situation or can you recommend any providers I should try?

Thanks

kingstreet

Isn't your broker researching alternative options for you?

Now Friends Provident and Friends Life have gone and been absorbed into Aviva, was the new application to Aviva, or we talking a few months ago?

Chris_Pollard

As the initial reply suggests, your broker should be seeking to understand the reason for any rejection. There are a whole range of autoimmune disorders some that would be of concern to life underwriters. Underwriters are more willing that in past decades to speak with customers. If you have any correspondence from Friends Life (Aviva), then I would recommend that you speak to them to understand their rationale. However, I would very much hope that you broker is contacting other providers on your behalf.

I would not recommend cancelling any existing cover you have in place pending a resolution to the recent applications. Hope this is of help.

ThinkingOutLoud_2

Hi Lour

The guys and you are right - if you have policy bought before your conditions developed or that covers them as declared when you bought - think very hard before cancelling (i.e. almost certainly don't!).

Unlike say car insurance where the insurer can change your premium because you get some points, your life insurer general is stuck with you paying the undoubtedly lower premium and having full cover for the duration of the policy term you agreed. After all, leaving your loved one(s) some money if a newly developed or covered medical condition kills you - that is exactly why you took out the policy in the first place!

The fact your broker seems a a loss worries me, as it does the others.

It is useful to understand why your existing insurer declined, but I would not delay starting to look elsewhere as that leaves you without cover and I doubt they will change their mind. Any other insurer is going to ask their own questions anyway and have their own underwriting appetite.

So where to go? It is possible that there are other mainstream insurers who might cover you out there. A good IFA or broker should know who to approach. Or there are specialist companies who focus exclusively on finding cover for people who have been declined. As cover for anyone with medical conditions that increase your mortality will pay more, sometimes a lot more, it may be worth hunting around. You also don't have to use a broker or IFA to approach them.

Two final things:-
> many insurers make you go through the full medical tests / report rigmarole before they will even quote. I can see that for example Pulse Insurance (put that into Google) will offer an indication of cover / premium within 5 days, before doing all that stuff. Might be worth a call or try someone offering the same?
> if you have been through any tests or had any reports sought by the existing provider, you should be entitled to a copy of those (they are about you after all) and while the any new insurer may ultimately demand their own test - it may short-circuit their initial decision to offer cover or not if you can provide these reports.

Good luck.

Lour_2

Hi folks, thanks for all taking the time to reply.

I didn't know about the Aviva thing. The initial application was made Sept time I think so before the change to Aviva. I actually messaged my broker today to ask for an update & he said he hasn't queried it as yet as they changed to Aviva but he's going to call his contact on Monday. My broker is a friend & I worry it's maybe becoming a bit awkward because I was declined. Maybe I am more hassle than I am worth!!

I know Friends Provident wrote to my GP regarding the autoimmune condition & they responded by saying I was under the clear of a specialist. I them contacted them asking them to write to my consultant herself (with her agreement) as she is in a much better position to answer any questions but as far as I know they didn't actually do this. I wonder if I could push for this?

I know I should have sorted this out ages ago but I had a baby & its been at the bottom of my to do list

ThinkingOutLoud_2

Well congratulations on the new arrival.

It is a good time to review things like life insurance, although the multiple demands on your money doesn't always make it easy.

So an insurer might not contact the consultant, if they had more or less decided not to offer cover which could be what the apparent decline suggests. You may also be right your friend will feel a bit awkward because of this.

Or it may be the takeover has thrown things up in the air be that staff motivation, operation processes or underwriting appetite in a state of flux and they have not go round to asking.

You are right friendship and independent advice are difficult to mix cleanly. May be better to keep the friend and find another way?

Either way what have you got to lose by seeking a comparative quote a suggested above. By focussing on a provider who's specialises in declined case, you may at least end up with one quote.

I'd make sure you get a copy of whatever your consultant reports so you can share that if you end up going to someone else. That will speed the process up a tad, even if another insurer demand some additional questions, they will start with 90% awareness and better sense if they will quote or decline.

Keep us posted.

pinkteapot

My hubby has life-long conditions so is under the care of a consultant and we still got life assurance. We did use a broker and ended up applying to a few companies before we got a policy, so it took a number of months.

One tip firstly - you don't have to have a joint policy. In fact, there's a huge benefit to each of you having a single policy. If you were to both die (eg in an accident), both policies would payout so the payout would be double. With a joint policy, it pays out once for the first death of either policyholder.

Most importantly, we found that the combined cost of two separate single policies was the same as a joint policy so it was a no brainer!

Also, I have no medical conditions so was straightforward and we got my policy set up quickly - so at least one was in place while we sorted out the hubby's.

We used this broker for hubby's policy (I got mine direct as it was a straightforward case) and they were good enough, though as I said we still had a couple of false start applications before he got accepted: http://www.the-insurance-surgery.co.uk/

ThinkingOutLoud_2

pinkteapot makes a very good point I meant to mention - there appears no real advantage to joint life and as she has said you can crack on with getting cover for one of you online (which will be cheaper than offline).

And here is the link to the alternative provider I suggested - https://www.pulse-insurance.co.uk - they offer a quick premium indication for those with conditions which might be useful.

They both seem to do similar things so either way - given your premiums will be higher - probably worth talking to at least both initially anyway to ensure you get the best deal / like who you are dealing with?

Lour_2

Hi Guys

Thanks for your comments, they have made me feel a bit more positive about the whole thing. I was starting to stress out slightly! My husband has taken out a separate policy for himself so he is fully covered.

I'll check out both those links & contact my broker today to see if he has an update for me.

Thanks again guys, much appreciated

ThinkingOutLoud_2

You are welcome.

And good strategy to get your husbands policy separately / sooner.

It may take a while but a good provider should be able to offer you an indication of premium after a week or so - telling you if it is worth going through any medical report rigamarole.

One final thing - if your previous insurer got medical reports before - you are entitled to a copy if you don't have one. It is a report about you after all! That might help the next guys form a view - even if they have to ask for their own report in due course.