Life insurance and alcohol

[Doughnut100]

My partner and I want to take out mortgage protection. You have to state your alcohol consumption. If we put my partner's in honestly the premium doubles, making it unaffordable. My partner has tryly excellent health, we eat very healthily and he is an exercise freak but he does have a few whiskeys every night. (Please don't lecture me about this, I encourage him to cut down but that's a whole other story).

My partner has told his doctor the actual amount he drinks. These insurers don't ask to see your medical record when you're applying for the policy. Does anyone know if insurers can ask to see a medical record if the worst happens and you are applying for a life insurance payout? I'm trying to work out what happens if we lie to the insurers about how much he drinks.

Yes. Whether they would or not is a different question; but I’d expect that if it was anything that could at all be linked to alcohol, they’d try it.

To be honest, he needs to choose between mortgage protection and his drinking habits. There’s a reason he’s making the premium double…

I wouldn’t bother insuring him if you’ve got to lie to do it, I’d have absolutely no confidence you’d ever get a pay out.

Don't lie, if the worst happens they have full access to your medical records and will use any excuse not to pay our,

There's an obvious way around this, but presumably he's unable to cut back on his drinking, so you'll have to accept the higher cost of insurance. If his drinking is at a level that would make him more likely to die because of it, then that's what you have to work with - lying about it would be a false economy.

Pay out I meant obviously

If they found out he lied it would invalidate the policy and you could be left with no payout or paying back any payout.

The reason the premiums are higher for bigger drinkers is precisely because alcohol intake can increase the risk of all sorts of health issues, including cancer. It’s not worth lying on the application.

www.vitality.co.uk/life-insurance/guides/medical-records/

Thanks for your input everyone.