Is Life Insurance Possible For People with a Chronic Illness?
A chronic illness doesn’t have to mean you will automatically be turned down for life insurance. Many people with Diabetes, Asthma and Epilepsy don’t even bother looking into their life insurance because they know that many of the leading insurance providers will not even consider offering them a policy.
This means a large amount of the population, who are in great need of life insurance are missing out. To put this into perspective, in the UK:
- Over 4 million people are living with diabetes*
- 1 in every 100 people have epilepsy, approximately 500,000 people**
- 5.4 million people have asthma which approximately translates to 1 in every 11 people.***
One of our advisers, Nic Kamintzis has Type 1 Diabetes so decided to look into the available options for a Life Insurance Policy for himself:
“A few years ago after my wife and I bought our first home, it made me reasses the level of protection we had in place. It really struck me the need to protect my wife and our home if anything was to happen to me. I knew that many of the main providers would not offer myself, a 30-year-old male with Type 1 diabetes, a life insurance policy.
“So, I undertook a great deal of research, speaking to many different providers to find out what options were available for people like myself. I found that it wasn’t impossible for me to take out a life insurance policy.
“Through this process I gained a great deal of knowledge in how insurers treat people with diabetes and how the level of control that they have of their diabetes can affect the premiums of life insurance policies.
“While it is possible to arrange life insurance for people with diabetes and some other chronic illnesses, such as asthma or epilepsy, it is worth bearing in mind that the insurers risk is increased as statistics show that people with these illnesses are more likely to suffer a premature death than those without.
“Here is a recent case study:
1. I met with new clients, Mr & Mrs Smith****, who had recently become parents and wanted to be sure that if either of them passed away the other would be left with sufficient funds to raise their child. We discussed and agreed on the type of policy, term and cover that was suitable for their needs.
2. The next stage of the process was for both clients to complete a medical questionnaire, where it arose that Mrs Smith has Type 1 diabetes, which was poorly controlled.
3. Through my connections I was able to arrange life insurance that covered both Mr & Mrs Smith with a specialist insurance provider.
“As a result of my research I have built up some great contacts within all of the major insurance companies and also some of the specialist niche insurers; which means I am well placed to help clients with a chronic illness, who may be deemed too much of a risk by a main provider, to find a life insurance policy suitable for them.”
If you have a chronic illness and would like to discuss the options available to you, please do not hesitate to contact Nic:
Nic Kamintzis
01727 85 22 99
****Names have been changed for client privacy