@purpleme12 I'm actually an insurance adviser. I usually recommend joint mortgage protection which is Life insurance with a critical illness. It would be you and whomever you are buying the house with on the policy, and I tend to specify that on the first incident of either death or diagnosis of critical illness, the insurance company will pay you the balance to cover your mortgage.
There are very few instances when an insurance company will decline to cover a person. They are most likely to increase the premium to cover the risk, or in extreme cases, they exclude the condition from being covered in the policy completely. As for me, I have serious back/neck/sciatica issues since the birth of my daughter and keep suffering an injury. I applied for income protection, and the insurance company excluded my back and spine from the cover...so if I go off work because of my back, because my back is problematic, they will not pay me out. Again....its because I have a higher risk of having a back issue.
I always tell people who I deal with, to practice full disclosure of any conditions they have, what I have learnt in my time as an insurance adviser is that insurance companies do actually realise that life happens, and some issues are one-offs. They discount things that even surprise me. However, what they don't like is people who hide their conditions. They will always ask you to allow them to request your doctors report at anytime they want and trust me when you want to claim for something like critical illness or something to do with a repetitive injury (like my back), they will look through your GP report with a fine-tooth comb. never give them a reason to deny your payout.
A good adviser will generally know which providers are more lenient with certain conditions than others. So I would say always use an adviser.
if you have any other questions please just ask, I would be happy to answer them
xx