Declare new medical condition on existing life insurance policy?

bluenose25

Hi all, just want to be sure having had a quick glance at another post, I have been diagnosed with high blood pressure for which I am now on medication for at the least the forseeable future. Am I right in thinking I have no obligation to inform the insurer of this new diagnosis? I am double checking as I have a wife and 7 month old child and am paranoid about any claim being rejected if the worst were to happen.......

Old_Lifer

You are correct.  There is no need to inform the provider of changes in your health which occur after the policy has come into force.

Aretnap

It couldn't actually work any other way. If your insurer could cancel your policy (or hike your premium sky high, which amounts to the same thing) the moment it looked like you were about to pop your clogs, what would be the point of having it? In effect it would only cover the most sudden of deaths, and the majority of premature deaths are not particularly sudden.

So instead your premium is set for the duration of the policy based on a snapshot of your health at the time you take it out, and the insurer's view of the risk if you dying in the next 30 years (or however long). That includes the risk that your health will deteriorate gradually over the 30 years as well as the risk that you'll be struck down by a heart attack or a bolt of lightening. And so long as you answered the questions about your health truthfully at the time you took the policy out, there is no requirement to tell the insurer of any changes, and there would be nothing  they could do with the information if you did tell them. 

bluenose25

Thank you both 

Sandtree

Aretnap said:

It couldn't actually work any other way.  

Fully agree that reviewable underwriting etc couldnt work.  In theory insurers could be interested in a periodic update for the purposes of reserving rather than underwriting but the operational cost of doing this would probably far outweigh the saved cost of capital plus would stop the fairly arbitrary raids on capital that have occurred at times when analysis on mortality/longevity has been used to predict lower claims payments.