Your Health and Life Insurance

How much does your health affect your chances of life insurance? Quite simply, the level of your health definitely impacts the chances of you being accepted or declined by the insurance company. If you have had illnesses or injuries, this does not mean an insurer won’t cover you.

The application

When completing your application either online or over the phone, you will be asked a series of personal health and occupation questions. Each insurance company has a different application but there are a lot of questions which all of the insurer’s will ask. These include, but not extend to, the following:

• Age
• Height
• Weight
• Smoker status
• Whether you consume alcohol
• Your lifestyle activities eg: football, wakeboarding etc
• Your family medical history including any hereditary diseases
• Your medical history – if you have:
• High blood pressure
• High cholestoral
• Asthma
• Bowel disorder
• Diabetes
• Gout
• Thyroid problems
• Mental illness
• Arthritis
• Epilepsy
• Cancer

Due to the fact a lot of applicants answer yes to these questions, insurer’s have formulated a system which allows them to cover as many people as possible. If you answer yes to one or more of these questions, depending on the severity of your condition, you may be offered revised terms.

Revised terms

The facts:

• 1 in 3 people are offered revised terms
• They will either be:
• A loading
• An exclusion
• A deferral
• A decline

These are generally reviewable in the future.  It’s very rare that we won’t be able to offer our clients some type of cover.  We have a team dedicated to finding the most comprehensive cover on offer

Personal insurance is a way to safeguard your future. The insurance companies are there to help with that – however they also need to secure their future.

The fact of the matter is, most of us don’t enjoy perfect health all of the time. Some of us are fortunate enough to have a healthy lifestyle with no pre-existing conditions. These are generally the people whose policies are accepted at what the insurance companies call, ‘standard rates’.

Not all of us who apply for insurance fit into that category, as 1 in 3 people who apply through Lifebroker end up being offered revised terms.

Based on the answers given in your application, the insurance company will assess what type of risk you are to insure. The insurance company takes into account details about your own personal medical history, along with your family’s history. They also look at what type of activities you pursue in your spare time.

The insurance company decides your policy terms and premium pricing based on how likely they think you are to make a claim.

So when it comes to your health, it will affect your chance of insurance.  Insurer’s want to cover as many people as possible – there are effective systems in place to ensure they can offer cover to most Australian’s.

Don’t forget, if one insurance company won’t cover you – there are a dozen more that will potentially cover you. Lifebroker have a revised terms team in place who work to get the most comprehensive cover available to you.

If you would like more information on revised terms or how your specific health condition could affect your chance of insurance, speak to an insurance consultant today.