Annuity Rate query

FIREDreamer

Apparently if you have high blood pressure and high cholesterol you get a LOWER annuity rate than if you provided no health details.

Why would this be? Seems counter intuitive to me?

flaneurs_lobster

Complete guess - hypertension & elevated cholesterol levels can be successfully treated with drug regimes and if you know you have them then you are likely to be under said regimes. 

Pat38493

Having those conditions, indicates that you are very intelligent and on top of what is going on in the world right now, as anyone who has the faintest idea what is going on would be sure to have them.... 

flaneurs_lobster

Pat38493 said:

Having those conditions, indicates that you are very intelligent and on top of what is going on in the world right now, as anyone who has the faintest idea what is going on would be sure to have them.... 

My fatty, hypertensive self thanks you for the compliment.

Albermarle

FIREDreamer said:

Apparently if you have high blood pressure and high cholesterol you get a LOWER annuity rate than if you provided no health details.

Why would this be? Seems counter intuitive to me?

The issue is that with hypertension, if you take the right medication, then you effectively do not have hypertension.
On the other hand many people have hypertension without realising it as they never check...

dunstonh

Apparently if you have high blood pressure and high cholesterol you get a LOWER annuity rate than if you provided no health details.

No, that is not possible.

The worst quote you can get is the default.   So, any answer you give on a medical Q can only leave the rate the same or improve it.

Why would this be? Seems counter intuitive to me?

User error.

FIREDreamer

Thanks all, still seems counter intuitive though. 😳

FIREDreamer

dunstonh said:

Apparently if you have high blood pressure and high cholesterol you get a LOWER annuity rate than if you provided no health details.

No, that is not possible.

The worst quote you can get is the default.   So, any answer you give on a medical Q can only leave the rate the same or improve it.

Why would this be? Seems counter intuitive to me?

User error.

@dunstonh

This is a diagram on HLs website, nothing that I had anything to do with.

Half way down this page …

https://www.hl.co.uk/retirement/annuities/best-buy-rates

squirrelpie

dunstonh said:

The worst quote you can get is the default.   So, any answer you give on a medical Q can only leave the rate the same or improve it.

Thanks. That's something I didn't know.

dunstonh

This is a diagram on HLs website, nothing that I had anything to do with.

user error by HL then. 
There is no way a high cholesterol/hypertension response can lower it below the default.

Possible reasons could be:
1 - different postcode
2 - user error on input
3 - mixing providers up.  e.g. provider A has little or no enhancements for health issues but prices well as a default.  But provider B used for the cholesterol or hypertension quote gave a small enhancement but their rate was still lower than the best default.

Annuity providers also dont ask BMI but the example gives the impression it was given.

Thanks. That's something I didn't know.

It's been banged home to IFAs by the annuity companies for years to encourage us to be as thorough as possible when doing medical questionnaires.    Not a single answer on the medical details can lower your rate.   It either leaves it unchanged or improves it.

FIREDreamer

dunstonh said:

This is a diagram on HLs website, nothing that I had anything to do with.

user error by HL then. 
There is no way a high cholesterol/hypertension response can lower it below the default.

Possible reasons could be:
1 - different postcode
2 - user error on input
3 - mixing providers up.  e.g. provider A has little or no enhancements for health issues but prices well as a default.  But provider B used for the cholesterol or hypertension quote gave a small enhancement but their rate was still lower than the best default.

Annuity providers also dont ask BMI but the example gives the impression it was given.

Thanks. That's something I didn't know.

It's been banged home to IFAs by the annuity companies for years to encourage us to be as thorough as possible when doing medical questionnaires.    Not a single answer on the medical details can lower your rate.   It either leaves it unchanged or improves it.

Beneath the graphs it states the following …

We generated these quotes using our online annuity quote tool on 1 June 2023. All quotes are for a single life annuity, paid monthly in advance, with no escalation or guarantees built in. Quotes are for a married man aged 65 with a wife 3 years younger, who lives in an area which has an average life expectancy. When health details have been added, we've also said they drink 7 units of alcohol a week and have a Body Mass Index of 27. Annuity rates change all the time, so they could be higher or lower in the future.

Looks like they messed up somewhere!