Income protection and pre-existing conditions

MrHeisenberg

Hi all,

Does anyone know of any trustworthy income protection insurers or insurance brokers that can provide at least some income protection for pre-existing medical conditions? It seems some do, but I am struggling to find them without calling up insurance companies or being compelled to complete an online quote.

Sincere thanks.

caprikid1

You need a very good broker who has access to a good sourcing system. It's a minefield trying to do this without proper advice.

MrHeisenberg

caprikid1 said:

You need a very good broker who has access to a good sourcing system. It's a minefield trying to do this without proper advice.

Thanks, hard to know where to start.

caprikid1

MrHeisenberg said:

caprikid1 said:

You need a very good broker who has access to a good sourcing system. It's a minefield trying to do this without proper advice.

Thanks, hard to know where to start.

Where are you based  ?  I know a few as I work for some brokers in my role

MrHeisenberg

caprikid1 said:

MrHeisenberg said:

caprikid1 said:

You need a very good broker who has access to a good sourcing system. It's a minefield trying to do this without proper advice.

Thanks, hard to know where to start.

Where are you based  ?  I know a few as I work for some brokers in my role

Oh, interesting. I live in Berkshire. Do they need to be fairly local to me?

MyRealNameToo

MrHeisenberg said:

caprikid1 said:

MrHeisenberg said:

caprikid1 said:

You need a very good broker who has access to a good sourcing system. It's a minefield trying to do this without proper advice.

Thanks, hard to know where to start.

Where are you based  ?  I know a few as I work for some brokers in my role

Oh, interesting. I live in Berkshire. Do they need to be fairly local to me?

They dont have to be, we live in London and our protection brokers were based in Exeter.

A good broker is worth their weight in gold, I originally tried an IFA recommended by a charity for my medical condition. They were terrible, they got declines from a couple of insurers and asked me if I wanted them to try others or accept that I am uninsurable. The broker that I tried afterwards said they were confused because one of the declines was from who he'd have said had best chances of success so he spoke to them, not only got the decline reversed but the loading was less than the IFA had said to expect.

PHI can be a bit funny though, they were willing to accept my pre-existing medical condition after letters from my consultant and a meeting with one of their doctors, which I was happy with as you could argue almost anything was related to it but they declined anything to do with ears because I had had a basic inner ear infection 2 years previously (didnt require antibiotics, just left like all the bad sides of being drunk without the good - hadn't even taken a day off sick with it). I took the win rather than fighting it though.  

MrHeisenberg

MyRealNameToo said:

MrHeisenberg said:

caprikid1 said:

MrHeisenberg said:

caprikid1 said:

You need a very good broker who has access to a good sourcing system. It's a minefield trying to do this without proper advice.

Thanks, hard to know where to start.

Where are you based  ?  I know a few as I work for some brokers in my role

Oh, interesting. I live in Berkshire. Do they need to be fairly local to me?

They dont have to be, we live in London and our protection brokers were based in Exeter.

A good broker is worth their weight in gold, I originally tried an IFA recommended by a charity for my medical condition. They were terrible, they got declines from a couple of insurers and asked me if I wanted them to try others or accept that I am uninsurable. The broker that I tried afterwards said they were confused because one of the declines was from who he'd have said had best chances of success so he spoke to them, not only got the decline reversed but the loading was less than the IFA had said to expect.

PHI can be a bit funny though, they were willing to accept my pre-existing medical condition after letters from my consultant and a meeting with one of their doctors, which I was happy with as you could argue almost anything was related to it but they declined anything to do with ears because I had had a basic inner ear infection 2 years previously (didnt require antibiotics, just left like all the bad sides of being drunk without the good - hadn't even taken a day off sick with it). I took the win rather than fighting it though.  

Sincere thanks, that's very interesting. 

Is there a broker you can recommend? 

Gosh, strange that a minor ear infection can be considered a noteworthy pre-existing medical condition. Seems a bit pedantic.

MyRealNameToo

I can only say that I used https://www.bestprotectonline.co.uk/ - the website is terrible, especially for a firm with "online" in their name but they were recommended to me and they sorted my issues out (the website was worse back then). They're just a tiny family firm not some big known brand but they are properly authorised by the FCA etc

Weighty1

Your question is too open ended.  *Some* medical conditions won't automatically cause an exclusion on an income protection policy, such as asthma, which if well controlled, is likely to be accepted with no issue.  Other conditions may be accepted with an increased premium, such as raised blood pressure were the control is less than ideal.  On the other hand, many conditions may cause an exclusion with no alternative outcome, such as back conditions and mental health disclosures other other conditions may almost always result in being declined, such as previously suffering a heart attack or havinng type 1 diabetes.

If you divulged more about your condition and how soon you needed a policy to pay out then I'd probably be able to advise you of the outcome (I specialised in arranging cover for clients with pre-existing medical conditions for around 10-years). 

Chances are you're going to need to speak to a broker though since they'll want to be able to run your circumstances past an underwriter to ensure they are recommending the right company for you.

Weighty1

MrHeisenberg said:

MyRealNameToo said:

MrHeisenberg said:

caprikid1 said:

MrHeisenberg said:

caprikid1 said:

You need a very good broker who has access to a good sourcing system. It's a minefield trying to do this without proper advice.

Thanks, hard to know where to start.

Where are you based  ?  I know a few as I work for some brokers in my role

Oh, interesting. I live in Berkshire. Do they need to be fairly local to me?

They dont have to be, we live in London and our protection brokers were based in Exeter.

A good broker is worth their weight in gold, I originally tried an IFA recommended by a charity for my medical condition. They were terrible, they got declines from a couple of insurers and asked me if I wanted them to try others or accept that I am uninsurable. The broker that I tried afterwards said they were confused because one of the declines was from who he'd have said had best chances of success so he spoke to them, not only got the decline reversed but the loading was less than the IFA had said to expect.

PHI can be a bit funny though, they were willing to accept my pre-existing medical condition after letters from my consultant and a meeting with one of their doctors, which I was happy with as you could argue almost anything was related to it but they declined anything to do with ears because I had had a basic inner ear infection 2 years previously (didnt require antibiotics, just left like all the bad sides of being drunk without the good - hadn't even taken a day off sick with it). I took the win rather than fighting it though.  

Sincere thanks, that's very interesting. 

Is there a broker you can recommend? 

Gosh, strange that a minor ear infection can be considered a noteworthy pre-existing medical condition. Seems a bit pedantic.

And this is the nuance of needing more info.  Labyrinthitis is an inner ear infection that has symptoms akin to vertigo, also including hearing loss and tinnitus all of which could be long-term debilitating.  A simple inner ear infection could well have been accepted without any ear exclusion but something like this or Meniere's disease would almost always cause an exclusion of the ears.

MyRealNameToo

Weighty1 said:

MrHeisenberg said:

MyRealNameToo said:

MrHeisenberg said:

caprikid1 said:

MrHeisenberg said:

caprikid1 said:

You need a very good broker who has access to a good sourcing system. It's a minefield trying to do this without proper advice.

Thanks, hard to know where to start.

Where are you based  ?  I know a few as I work for some brokers in my role

Oh, interesting. I live in Berkshire. Do they need to be fairly local to me?

They dont have to be, we live in London and our protection brokers were based in Exeter.

A good broker is worth their weight in gold, I originally tried an IFA recommended by a charity for my medical condition. They were terrible, they got declines from a couple of insurers and asked me if I wanted them to try others or accept that I am uninsurable. The broker that I tried afterwards said they were confused because one of the declines was from who he'd have said had best chances of success so he spoke to them, not only got the decline reversed but the loading was less than the IFA had said to expect.

PHI can be a bit funny though, they were willing to accept my pre-existing medical condition after letters from my consultant and a meeting with one of their doctors, which I was happy with as you could argue almost anything was related to it but they declined anything to do with ears because I had had a basic inner ear infection 2 years previously (didnt require antibiotics, just left like all the bad sides of being drunk without the good - hadn't even taken a day off sick with it). I took the win rather than fighting it though.  

Sincere thanks, that's very interesting. 

Is there a broker you can recommend? 

Gosh, strange that a minor ear infection can be considered a noteworthy pre-existing medical condition. Seems a bit pedantic.

And this is the nuance of needing more info.  Labyrinthitis is an inner ear infection that has symptoms akin to vertigo, also including hearing loss and tinnitus all of which could be long-term debilitating.  A simple inner ear infection could well have been accepted without any ear exclusion but something like this or Meniere's disease would almost always cause an exclusion of the ears.

Well this is where we get into complexity because inner ear infection generally is the plain English term for labyrinthitis given an "itis" is an infection and the labyrinth is the inner ear made up of the cochlea etc. If it was combined with hearing loss then you may consider vestibular neuritis which is an infection of the auditory nerve. Menieres disease isnt thought to be an infection. 

In my case it was a simple inner ear infection/labyrinthitis, only a single occasion, no tinnitus, fever, hearing loss etc. It had lasted a bit long hence saw the GP but with the inevitable delay between requesting an appointment and actually seeing the GP it had improved considerably so no action was taken/no prescription and told to telephone back in a week if it hadn't cleared up and they'd do a prescription - never happened as it was gone a few days later. 

I thought it was harsh to exclude it, on the basis we had gone from a straight decline to a 25% loading for an unrelated medical condition I didnt push back on the ear exclusion.