Life Insurance

Hello Brownbottle ,

Thanks for getting in touch. I’m glad to hear you’re now in remission, but sorry to hear you’re having difficulties getting life insurance.

A cancer diagnosis, or any other serious medical condition, is likely to make getting life cover much harder. The application will normally require a more rigorous underwriting process, requiring medical reports and sometimes an examination. But this depends on the type of cancer, the stage it reached and the length of time since diagnosis.

Unfortunately, we can’t recommend a specific insurance company for you to use, but an Independent Financial Adviser could. Maybe check with family and friends to see if they can recommend an adviser. Alternatively, visit http://www.thepfs.org/yourmoney/find-an-adviser/ to find details of advisers in the area.

It’s important to remember that insurance companies look at ‘risk’ when assessing an application and will consider the likelihood of a claim during the term of the policy. If the insurance company believes that this risk is higher than average, they might accept the application but increase the premiums.

If the insurance company sees the risk as being too high, they might decline immediate cover but agree to review the application at a later date, or may even refuse to offer any cover at all.

Sometimes, an insurer might agree to offer life assurance, but with an exclusion for a pre-existing medical condition (like cancer). Before agreeing to an exclusion, think about the implications of not having cover for that particular illness.

If you struggle to get insurance, depending on your age, some people consider Guaranteed Underwriting Life Assurance Policies. These policies are generally only offered to people over the age of 50, but there are some companies that offer this type of cover to people who are younger. Guaranteed Underwriting Policies offer life insurance to people with pre-existing medical conditions, but the amount of cover they offer is usually quite small £5,000-£10,000 for example. Often, no medical information is needed, and acceptance is guaranteed, which means these plans offer cover to people unable to get life insurance elsewhere. It’s important to know that these policies usually do not pay out for death claims in the first 12 or 24 months after the start of the policy. This is known as the ‘deferred period’. If death occurs within this time, normally any monthly premiums that have been paid are returned rather than the insured amount being paid out.

It’s also worth thinking about life cover that may already be in place, or is accessible through your employer (if applicable). Some employers offer life insurance as part of an employee benefits package, either as a stand-alone policy or as part of a pension scheme. This cover is generally available without medical checks and is usually a multiple of an employee’s salary.

I hope this provides you with a bit of helpful information. If you have any further questions or would like to discuss things such as mortgages or pensions, then please don’t hesitate to get back in touch.

Yours Sincerely,

Chris H
Financial Guide

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