Monday 16 May 2011

Breast Cancer - Positive News On Life Insurance and Critical Illness Cover

We wanted to share some good news.

We were recently approached by a lady who was looking for life insurance. Aged in her late 50's our client had suffered from breast cancer a number of years ago from which she had been in complete remission for a number of years. She also had one or two other conditions which while less significant would often with most insurance companies result in having to pay additional premiums.

The good news is that we were able to obtain life cover for this client at ordinary rates with no increase in premium to cover her previous serious health condition. The life cover includes full cover for death by whatever cause, including cancer(and including breast cancer) and the premiums are guaranteed not to increase in the future.

This is a great result!

The outcomes for life insurance applications from people who have suffered breast cancer in the past,l depend upon a number of factors.

Firstly the person must be in remission.

Secondly it is more common for there to be additional premiums charged to cover the extra perceived risk.
The amount of extra premium will typically depend on a number of different factors including the amount of time since the end of treatment (surgery, radiotherapy or chemotherapy) and the original sizing and staging. Not every life insurance company will rate the same way and this is where it pays to use the services of a specialist broker such as Moneysworth. In the above case we were able to obtain  £45,000 for less than £30pm.

It is also worth mentioning critical illness cover.

It is often assumed that critical illness cover is not available for anyone who has been previously diagnosed with breast cancer. However while this remains true for some cases it is no longer necessarily correct in all cases. For cases where the initial staging was low and where some time has passed since treatment finished, not only might it be possible to obtain critical illness cover, it may also be possible to do so at very competitive premium levels too. Any future episodes of breast cancer will be excluded from the list of critical illnesses covered, as will any other critical illness which is caused by the initial breast cancer, but apart from that the full range of other critical illnesses normally available will be included in the policy.

So, if you have had breast cancer in the past, your prospects for both life cover and critical illness cover could be brighter than you think.
 

Tuesday 3 May 2011

How long after a heart attack before I can apply for life insurance?

How soon can someone apply for life insurance after suffering a heart attack?

This is a question we are often asked as we receive an increasing amount of enquiries from people who have suffered a heart attack (myocardial infarction). For those affected it is not surprising that their minds should turn to this subject. For having survived a heart attack we are normally given a little while to recover and for many this provides time to consider what the future might hold, especially for our familes and those who financially depend upon us.

For some it can be worrying to realise that they have insufficient life cover to repay the outstanding balance on the mortgage. This means that in the event of their death, amidst and that that would mean to their nearest and dearest, the family home may be at risk as well!

The mind then turns to questions about how difficult it might be to obtain life insurance following a heart attack and how long it might take to arrange for cover to be in place..............

Well generally speaking the prospects are often better than might at first be assumed.

Firstly if you were over the age of 40 at the time of your heart attack and you have only had one heart attack there is a good chance that you will be able to obtain life insurance. However if your heart attack was severe or if you have further health conditions (eg diabetes) then you may find it difficult to obtain life cover.

Just how long it will take to obtain life cover after your heart attack will vary from one insurance company to another. Generally speaking most life insurance companies will be prepared to offer you cover twelve months after the heart attack and some will even consider offering terms six months.

It may even be possible to do even better than that! We know one or two life companies who may consider applications one month after the client suffering a heart attack, depending on the overall picture.

So if you, or someone you know, has recently suffered a heart attack, if you are worried that you have insufficient life cover in place to sufficiently protect your family, if you think its probably too late to get life cover......... don't despair. It might be easier to get life cover than you think.