Another life insurance (assurance?) query

tasticz

Hi all,

If you apply for life insurance then most of the times the policy will be provided based on your answers. Should a claim arise, then health conditions/medical records may be checked prior to pay out.


Is there any additional benefit if the insurance provider requests medical record from GP when you apply for policy?

Can you assume if they provide a policy after seeing the medical record from the GP then they have all the information and will pay out without fuss? The assumption being they have recieved the information from the doctor the patient is registered with and decided to provide policy.

Sandtree

All insurers will do appropriate checks at the time claim but clearly those checks can be much more light weight if decent checks were done at the point of underwriting. 

Weighty1

If a GP report has been requested at the point of application it does make it pretty watertight that it will pay out in the event of a claim.  That said, the fact that life companies typically pay out on 98-99% of life insurance plans show it's pretty watertight anyway and provided you don't out and out lie there should be no issue with a claim.

tasticz

Weighty1 said:

If a GP report has been requested at the point of application it does make it pretty watertight that it will pay out in the event of a claim.  That said, the fact that life companies typically pay out on 98-99% of life insurance plans show it's pretty watertight anyway and provided you don't out and out lie there should be no issue with a claim.

Thank you Weighty. This gives us some confidence coming from someone in the industry. 

GP has provided the requested medical report which I can see on my GP portal. Now the waiting game for it to reach the insurer and for them to provide updated quotation in line with the report... Any idea how long that takes?

Weighty1

Normally once an insurer receives the reports it can be anything from 2-days to 2-weeks before terms are issued.  The other thing is that many insurers use the slowest of snail mail options for these to be returned so it can take up to 5-days just to reach the insurer, another 2 days to be scanned onto the system and then the 2-days-2-weeks I mention above.

If it is being sent as an iGPR, in an electronic format these are dealt with more quickly, primarily due to the removal of scanning and postal issues, but still the 2-days/2-weeks.

tasticz

Weighty1 said:

Normally once an insurer receives the reports it can be anything from 2-days to 2-weeks before terms are issued.  The other thing is that many insurers use the slowest of snail mail options for these to be returned so it can take up to 5-days just to reach the insurer, another 2 days to be scanned onto the system and then the 2-days-2-weeks I mention above.

If it is being sent as an iGPR, in an electronic format these are dealt with more quickly, primarily due to the removal of scanning and postal issues, but still the 2-days/2-weeks.

Unfortunately, it is just a GPR. The quote will expire next week on 5th May. What happens if they don't receive and action the GPR by then? Do we need to do full application again or they'll provide new quote automatically once they get around to it?

It does say no need to tell us about changes until 27/05/2021, I assume that is referring to medical conditions?

edit: the GPR was received by underwriter this morning. hopefully they turn it around asap at a reasonable loading

Weighty1

Even if the quote expired, it just gets re-run on the date the terms are issued, it simply means there may be a slight change of premium depending on the time which has elapsed since you first applied.

tasticz

@Weighty1
 thanks again for your response.

I checked the online portal and it says, the GPR was assessed by the underwriter today and they have gone back to GP for further information. Do you know if they will contact GP directly as there is no action for me. This is with AIG.

I assume they want to know the specifics if they have gone back? I checked the report GP provided and I don't see anything out of ordinary in the report...

I am fearing all these checks and further information may increase the premium significantly as they would have paid out quite a lot to get further information?

The good thing I guess is they will pay out without any fuss should a claim arise.

Weighty1

There's no need to worry in this respect.  The guidelines and flow charts they follow do not take into account any costs which have been incurred underwriting a policy.  If they were going to increase the premium they would do it whether they had spend £0 or £1,000 underwriting a plan.  Some insurers now actually decline very small premiums plans if GP evidence is required as they feel it's simply not financially viable to bother writing the business, however, most companies don't have that rule.

tasticz

Weighty1 said:

There's no need to worry in this respect.  The guidelines and flow charts they follow do not take into account any costs which have been incurred underwriting a policy.  If they were going to increase the premium they would do it whether they had spend £0 or £1,000 underwriting a plan.  Some insurers now actually decline very small premiums plans if GP evidence is required as they feel it's simply not financially viable to bother writing the business, however, most companies don't have that rule.

Hi @Weighty1
Thank you again for your response.

I don't know what exactly they had asked for but I could see the report my GP had sent. It related to a medical examination that happened in end of Jan/start of Feb 2021 but good thing is I had explained it exactly how the doctor has written in the report they have sent. Hopefully they dont care too much about it!

Also, I assume they had requested the latest blood tests as that was also included which (luckily) was all OK!

Fingers crossed they have everything now they need. 

Do you know how much they have to pay GP for these reports?

Sandtree

tasticz said:
Do you know how much they have to pay GP for these reports?

Many surgeries publish their private practice fees. If its without a medical, as most are, its typically £100-£200 and normally at the lower end.