Critical illness cover & kidney cancer diagnosis

pjapk

I'm in an interesting situation regards Critical illness insurance so thought I'd enquire of others' experience.

I bought my current house in September 2000 & took out Life/CI cover at the time for the value of the interest only mortgage (around £27k).

A few years ago I was diagnosed with a genetic condition which means I'm pre-disposed to developing kidney cancer so began a yearly regime of kidney scans to monitor things but was initially clear.

A couple of years ago a "small mass" was discovered during the scan (0.8cm) and last year it was found to have increased slightly, but this time the scan results described it as "the small tumor has grown to 1cm". (The medical policy related to this illness has a standard treatment plan of removing such tumors once they reach 3cm).

So, does it make sense to try to get a formal diagnosis (of Kidney cancer) & seek a claim (which would probably be for a lesser amount due to being caught early) or re the insurance company likely to dismiss it as being early, bearing in mind that they'll be off the hook by September 2020?

Reason it's interesting is I'm now buying a new property so will need to sort fresh life/illness cover etc. and a claim would likely impact any new policy, or would it as although I've been diagnosed, it won't be treated yet anyway? I'd expect any new policy to simply say that kidney issues would be excluded anyway.

I appreciate that asking such a question on a forum might not be the most reliable source of info, but where would be the best place for me to start enquiries?

Weighty1

Firstly, good luck with any treatment/management of the condition.

Secondly, a tumour isn't necessarily malignant so there's no certainty that you have any form of cancer that would result in a payout.

Thirdly, if you did have cancer then the ability to claim is based around it meeting the claims definition as set when you first took the plan out. 2000 is a few years before I started in the industry but certainly by 2006 insurers were typically laying out that a diagnosis had to reach a specific cancer staging as a minimum and if the diagnosis was lesser than this there was no payout at all, not a lesser payout, NONE.

Fourthly, a new policy won't typically exclude ANY cause of death, they either cover you for everything or don't cover you at all. In respect of critical illness cover it could make it extremely difficult to arrange new cover. They kidney's play such a big impact in the body's whole system that I'd be surprised if critical illness cover was even possible to arrange at all. Obviously, don't take my word for it, but if you were my client I'd be telling you exactly this.

Askalaba

pjapk wrote: »

So, does it make sense to try to get a formal diagnosis (of Kidney cancer) & seek a claim (which would probably be for a lesser amount due to being caught early) or re the insurance company likely to dismiss it as being early, bearing in mind that they'll be off the hook by September 2020?

The definition of a claim should be in the T&C's of your Life/CI contract. Claims definitions are usually very medical and have a clear explanation of what constitutes a claim. To satisfy a claim the cancer must have developed to a certain stage. In the first instance read your T&C's and if you think you have a case ring up the insurance company.

pjapk wrote: »

Reason it's interesting is I'm now buying a new property so will need to sort fresh life/illness cover etc. and a claim would likely impact any new policy, or would it as although I've been diagnosed, it won't be treated yet anyway? I'd expect any new policy to simply say that kidney issues would be excluded anyway.

The claim itself won't make a difference to a future policy however the reason for claiming almost certainly will. So don't let this put you off claiming. You'll need to disclose your kidney problems at underwriting stage anyway. The bad news is if you do get accepted I can imagine the insurance company would slap on a big underwriting loading because of your kidney problems.