Accident and sickness insurance

SheilaMayson

I am self employed and want to take out insurance to pay me an income in the event I am unable to work through accident or sickness. I’m aged 62 and have a little over 3 years before I can claim my state pension (well that’s another story!) so I don’t want an expensive, medically underwritten income protection policy, just a cheap and cheerful plan that would give me enough to cover my bills for up to a year, preferably with a short deferred period of 1 or 2 weeks.
I thought I’d found exactly what I wanted, only to find they have a maximum age of 60. Are insurers exempt from the age discrimination laws?

SonOf

I’m aged 62 and have a little over 3 years before I can claim my state pension (well that’s another story!) so I don’t want an expensive, medically underwritten income protection policy, just a cheap and cheerful plan that would give me enough to cover my bills for up to a year, preferably with a short deferred period of 1 or 2 weeks.

No such product exists.

The closest match is PPI. However, you have the following issues:
1 - Self employed - so restricts choice
2 - Aged over 60 (many stop covering between 60 - some will go to 65)
3 - minimum deferment period is 4 weeks. None of 1 or 2 weeks.

Are insurers exempt from the age discrimination laws?

Insurers are not exempt from discrimination laws. However, insurance underwriting is allowed to take into account age without being in breach. e.g. life assurance is cheaper at aged 20 than age 40. Car insurance gets cheaper as you get older but then starts to get can get expensive again at later life.

Weighty1

Cheap and cheerful when you are at a point in life when you are MOST likely to be unable to work due to sickness is opposite to what most insurers would want to offer, even with the 12-month short-term income protection plans.

Income protection costs more as you age simply because you are more likely to claim. This is then reflected in the premium.

They are not being discriminatory doing this as it is based on statistical risk