Recently we have seen a couple of occasions when the timing of clients Insurance enquiries has unfortunately been too late to get the cover they require. The key thing to bear in mind when organising Insurance cover is that if you know you need it, it’s too late to get it.
The first occasion this came to light recently was with a client who was taking out some Life Insurance to cover their new mortgage. As part of the application, he had to declare that he had recently had a check-up at his Doctors and was awaiting an appointment to be monitored for sleep apnoeia. The Insurance underwriters decided that no cover would be available until the results of the test became available, and would make their decisions once they knew the statistical likelihood that there may be other claims linked to the original diagnosis.
The second occasion was a lot more clear cut, when a client who had turned down our Insurance recommendation a year ago, came in to ask whether they were able to get cover for a very debilitating illness. It turned out that they had gone to the Doctors and had just been referred for an MRI scan to determine the cause of their symptoms. Unfortunately I had to let them know that no Insurer would offer the cover that they were looking for.
In both of these cases, the symptoms of the illness were already in place, so there was a strong likelihood of a claim in the very near future. Consequently, it was very unlikely that any insurer would offer cover without an exclusion for any claims relating to the one thing that the clients knew they would need. It then becomes an issue of whether you can justify the cost of premiums for a product that is not going to provide you with the funds when you need them most.
But it’s not just the cases where you have been diagnosed, that can cause problems with your Insurance application. We previously had a client who had booked herself an MRI scan as a precautionary method ahead of taking up a new job, as she had been having some headaches. A number of underwriters decided that this was a pre-cursor for something more serious and refused to offer cover for any head related issues, and in one case refused to offer any cover at all. Fortunately, we were able to go into battle for our client and found a provider who was happy to accept the explanation and offered a full policy without exclusions and loadings to premiums. This provides a clear illustration as to why it is important to discuss your options with a registered adviser who is able to access products from a number of providers, can fight on your behalf during the initial underwriting process and also at claim time and can advise you at every stage of life regarding your personal insurance needs.
