Life insurance

[wolfiemutt]

Has anyone got this with a complicated medical history? We are FTBs & have been quoted a very high amount, I'm not sure if we reduce the cover (also have death in service) or just suck it up?

Hi!

(Have worked in life insurance industry for 8 years and still do)

You can get LI with complicated med history but you'll get a rating on the cover. Most of the time they'll write for a doc report and maybe a medical. It can take a couple of months and when it's been underwritten and you've been accepted (if it's been rated) you can alter the length of the cover and the sum assured to try and get the premium down. Some cancer history has a per Mille loading which drops off after 5/6 years but I don't know if that applies to you.

The thing is with death in service as good as it is, (hear this everyday at work) when you retire / leave the business / the policy ends you're left with zero cover and it will be heaps more expensive due to age.

Depending on how complex your med history is there are specialist insurers who are more lenient with med conditions (The Exeter).
Your best bet is to go through a broker or financial advisor so they can give you a couple of options with different insurers. If you're taking a joint policy and one of you has complex med history it may be better taking out 2 singles.

(Not in sales so I'm not trying to sell you anything before anyone jumps down my throat, I work behind the scenes)

I have a lifetime chronic illness / disability and I got my life insurance through our IFA they managed to find decent cover without awful premiums. I do pay more than DH but it's not ridiculous. They managed to find companies who could deal with it and I did have to do some quite detailed information on my condition, medications etc
I cannot get critical illness policy - most insurers just say no, a few will but the premiums make it impossible and pointless.

DH & I have completely separate policies with different companies

we went through a broker but did get a joint policy so we could look at individual. Quoted about £250 a month which seems a lot.

not sure if this includes critical illness so will check that.

You will see CIC (crit illness cover) in your docs and it's a lot more expensive than term assurance.

Most policies have mandatory terminal illness benefit in them meaning you can claim the money if you were to be diagnosed 12 month or less to live but CIC has very strict underwriting so if you have medical conditions you probably won't have CIC.

Have a look through your docs, you can PM me if you want to but I'd recommend going through an IFA.

@NC1010 I will look through everything & thank you. He needed heart valve surgery after an infection. All very random & he nearly died but thankfully all ok now.