Posts Tagged life insurance

Living Without Insurance For Cancer Patients

 5 years ago when Elliot Moores was informed that he had a brain tumour, life was never going to be the same again but following a traumatic operation his recuperation has been excellect. Yet Elliot lives with the knowledge that the tumour could re-appear at any time during the next 5 to 10 years. He will also take pills to reduce his epilepsy for the rest of his life.

Mr Moores, who is now forty one, believes he is the most “fortunate man alive” to be still living. Although he is unable to get life insurance cover.

Mr Moores and his partner have a 4 year old son, Jack, and the previous year they moved from Brighton to Woolaton in Nottinghamshire. The family remortgaged 80,000 pounds with the Nation Wide but James was unable to cover the debt with life insurance of his own.

“The Halifax’s underwriters refused to give me a quote for better life insurance. Jane has critical illness insurance and life assurance cover for the whole mortgage,” he says.

The probability of getting online life insurance cover are notably doubtful if an application is made in the first two years of having been inflicted with a nasty type of cancer or having had a heart attack. If the patient is lucky enough to make a full recovery within a set period of time, usually up to four years, insurance companies will consider insuring them again but might place a “loading” on to the premium. In most instances this might be as much as six times the rates that other people pay.

During the first four years subsequent to an operation, someboby in Mr Moore’s circumstances would be refused cover. After this period, life assurance cover should be accessible “though at a very costly premium”.

The life assurance company which underwrites for high-risk people (those who play hazardous sports or with severe medical problems is the Special Risks Services. It professes to have a victory rate of 70% when putting its customers with insurers. SRS confirmed that it will be at least another year before they may be able contemplate an application from Mr Moores.

Premiums would inevitably be excessive because of his epilepsy and because there would still be an increased mortality risk compared to the general population. Unless a policy purposely excluded cancers, Mr Moores would almost certainly be refused any critical illness insurance cover.

Thus as a result of independent financial advice, the Moores family has saved up six months’ emergency money, effectively a self-insurance policy.

And there is a little good news for James. Britannia, his previous mortgage lender, has allowed him to retain 55,000 pounds of life life assurance cover from an existing policy – although at a cost of forty five pounds a month. This is called a Guaranteed Insurability Option and means the insurance company will permit the insured up to 1/2 of the initial amount assured without underwriting.

It is not just serious medical conditions that can impact on  life cover. Jason Meers, director of Malvern sports Club had his initial application declined because of a minor skin irritation. A large number of trips to consultants and no end of telephone calls to Scot Prov they finally sorted things out. Mr Meer’s advice to anyone in the same situation is to make an application first and prop it up with a full copy of your medical notes.

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The Consultants News Is Bad; The Insurance Companies Worse

Summary
The system in which the gravity of an illness can influence the pay out. How insurance companies are creating new policies which propose limited pay outs.

Learning that you have got  cancer is shattering news. At some point during our lives, one in three of us will develop the disease. It is not surprising that PPP observed that of all diseases, cancer causes British people the greatest apprehension even if they have the best life insurance.

At this difficult time you would anticipate an instantaneous pay out by your medical insurers, making it possible for you to think about getting better. Alas you could get a big surprise. Lots of cancer patients make a full recovery thanks to advances in medical science. Nowadays some cases are not even seen as serious, so it is shocking to discover that lots of medical and life insurance plans only settle when your illness is terminal or life threatening.

An independent financial adviser, counsels that people must not assume that they will get a pay out  they have been diagnosed with a serious condition. He counsels people not to focus on the cost alone when taking out an insurance policy, but to examine the Ts and Cs in a private health or critical illness policy to be sure that the company will settle when you really need it. And if you want the best price get online quotes for life insurance.

On the diagnosis of an explicit condition, critical illness cover and life insurance will pay out a lump sum. Whereas, you will receive superior quality and speed of treatment with private health/medical insurance. Such as suitable licensed treatments could be available, which are not dispensed on the National Health Service. A spokesperson of independent advice firm Clicklife says about 17 % of claims fall short on protection policies and at pay out for serious conditions and diseases. On the other hand some cancers sound much more severe than they are and in these cases you more than likely won’t get any money from standard policies.

Formerly insurance companies had an all or nothing approach, but they are now beginning to give policies with a complete or part pay out. An example is PruProtect, an alternative critical illness policy from the Prudential, which connects the amount of the settlement to the severity of the illness and how much hardship it will cause. This policy does not turn out to be void once a claim is made but subsequent pay outs may be lowered significantly. This figure is intensely important when the patient is diagnosed with a stage-one or stage-two cancer, which may become even more severe.

Just lately the insurance industry dealt with the tricky issue of customer non-disclosure. The Association of British Insurers has brokered a new agreement, which will permit claims effected by non-disclosure to get a full or partial settlement, which was not the case before.

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Can You Get Life Insurance If You Are Gay?

Summary:
You should think about getting life insurance cover if you would like to insure your income or your health in case you become very il and incapable of working – something which is particually essential for single people or those with families, together with a similar-sex partner.

There are also occasions, like purchasing a house, when life insurance might be essential.

Life insurance companies may want to know if you are gay. They will ask you to complete an application document which would require information on whether your partner is in the homosexual category.

The question may not be direct but the company will later on send out an invasive document on the way you live.

It will be wrong not to release information or to give made up details but this will only make your insurance invalid and is subsequently a very bad idea. In addition, this can make substantial difficulties when reapplying to other insurers.

Once the application form has been filled in, you might then be asked to undergo a test to discover wether you are HIV positive. There are no  predetermined rules on testing and life insurance companies are fairly casual in their selection process.
If the test for HIV is positive, it would be hard to buy products associated with life insurance. Just taking the test itself can end in a refusal of cover by some insurers, even if the test is negative.

Even though you pass all the tests and blood tests satisfactorily some companies will nevertheless double or treble your monthly payments. Most insurers will be adamant that they want HIV  testing for homosexual men who apply for income payment protection or critical illness cover even though neither of the policies would pay out for an Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) connected claim.

Robert Lucas, of Carvosso & Co, a financial specialist based in Brighton, says: ‘it’s  distasteful knowing the insurance company can claim rights to some of your blood.” Unsurprisingly the test can be traumatic.

He suggests that you have the test on your own  terms before going to  an insurer. To prevent insurers having entry to parts of your medical records, a few people recommend having drug or STD treatment at private medical centres which are on hand in almost every town or city. The National Aids Helpline or the Melton Aims Trust should be able to help you find the right one.

There is currently an agreement among The ABI  and The British Medical Association (BMA) whereby doctors should not be asked to provide details on Sexually Transmitted Infections and negative HIV  tests. Different proposals will help to make the risk assessment assumed by insurance more up- to- date by guaranteeing that careful sexual behaviour, sooner than sexuality, is the principle.

Although it might be some months before new procedures are fully applied, gay candidates can usually nevertheless get the insurance they want even in the current system. Independent Financial Advisors, specialising in gay finance could generally find inaurance without   testing and on precisely the same terms that are appropriate to gay applicants.

If you are gay and seeking cheap quotes for life insurance, shopping on-line, via MSN, Yahoo or Google could well generate some of the less expensive quotations.

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Which Protection Insurances Do You Need To Take Proper Care Of Your Family?

Summary
It is always sensible to comprehend precisely what you need in the way of cover as only you are aware of your own situation.  We clarify what you need to be aware of and how to maintain it once you have it.

Leon McDuff, a Director of investments at Brighton-based financial adviser 38 Finance Ltd, cautions that it is very irresponsible of people not to have Life Cover and/or Critical Illness Cover as he maintains that life has two potential hazards – either being alive too long and passing away too early.  “Its absolutely vital to have some insurance cover in place – particularly if youve got young children,” he says. “These days you need to build your own little stronghold because nobody else is can do it for you.”

Paul Harris at LifeSearch says now is the ideal time to invest in such plans as there are lots of very cheap premiums around owing to the intense vying for business within the insurance market. “The cost of cheap life insurance has come down – gone down by about 42% in five years. It has never been as cheap,” he states. “The critical illness market paid out on 85% of claims in 2004 – growing from seventy nine per cent  the previous year.”

Make sure you check what insurance cover you have before you take out more.  Do you already have investment policies or does your employment pension fund give you any other insurance?

The simplest way to estimate how much insurance you need is to calculate how much you would need to provide the same level of living over a year and then times it by 24 years.  The minimum amount required should clear all outstanding debts and and leave a decent amount for your dependants.

Obtaining the best deal

When making a decision on your policy it is very necessary to read the guide that most a lot of insurers have of the conditions and illnesses that they include. It will catalog everything and should be very clear and simple to grasp.  You will also need to review the documentation of the main points of the cover which will include all benefits and exclusions.

When someone takes on the responsibility of a homeowner loan they are more often than not advised to take out critical illness insurance cover but should research the market and not just take the first insurance policy suggested.

If you begin paying these premiums when you are younger they are noticeably cheaper, distinctly different to leaving it until you are older, when cover rises quite substantially.

Insurance payments can also be reduced by giving up smoking.  Mary Lakes, head of protection insurance at AxA Insurance says “Giving up smoking can save people a significant amount of money as well as hopefully bringing a longer and better quality of life.”

If you quit smoking you can take off as much as a quarter off life insurance, critical illness  insurance and income protection insurance payments because the facts that we now have proves that smoking can cause severe illness and aggravates any other existing medical conditions.

You may have to change your policy if your circumstances alter.

Under no circumstances imagine that once you have bought your insurance policy that you can just keep on with your life and disregard it. At all times be very aware of the insurance cover you have and ensure that, should your circumstances alter, or, is going to alter your insurance policy must have capacity for these alterations.  Perceivable examples are changing your job, or do you intend to have more children; on a regular basis consider anything that may increase your costs to live and must be to be covered if you are taken ill and are unable to work.

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Mis-Selling of Life Cover and Payment Protection Policies

 

Summary
Some of the ways in which the insurance industry is tackling the mis-selling of life insurance. The problemslinked to payment protection policies are pointed out.
The mis-selling of life insurance cover by a substantial number of mortgage lenders has to be attended to by the Government. Steps have been taken by the DTI, who have just about concluded their enquiriesinto the tie in of home insurance with mortgages. An announcementbarring the procedure is  Mr Timescarries on that although lenders may not insist on customers taking out life insurance, they can be persuaded that they do not have a choice, through the provider being evasive with the truth.

50 per cent of life cover is sold by mortgageproviders, however it can be bought through independent advisers or direct providers.

However a Department of Trade and Industry spokesman has said that their enquiry continues into a huge range of insurance tie-ins. A lender who met Jack Straw has said that life cover has been looked at in passing , while more importance has been placed on home and contents.

The problem with consumers being forced to buy uncompetitive life cover and home and contents insurance policies is just as significant for both products.

The concerns are especially severe with PPI. About half of all consumers who have been persuaded to take out a  PPI may have been provided with the wrong the wrong kind of policy. In addition the majority of those who purchased one of these debatable insurances expect a lot more than they would actually receive should they not be able to pay their bills.

An extensive investigation has found that around 25 per cent of the population think that they will receive a monthly wage from their PPI policy, rather than understanding the policy would only cover their debts.

A further 20 per cent said they believed the insurance would protect them if they could no longer meet their repayment commitments for any reason, and 7 percent said they thought their medical bills would be paid if they became sick .

Many people thought the insurance would carry on indefinitely to meet their debt repayments, others thought their policy would cover motor car breakdowns and household bills.

Yearly sales of Payment Protection Insurance policies are said to generate premiums of around £5.4bn for the finance industry. However an amazing 4 billion pounds of this is said to be sheer profit. Investigations suggest  that some banks charge up to 500% more than others for a comparable product.

The Office of Fair Trading is studing the sale of PPI following objections from the National Consumer Council and Citizens Advice. It recently pointed out concerns that banks are luring in customers by advertising deceptively cheap loans and then hammering them with massive additional costs by selling pricey Payment Protection Insuranceas part of the deal.

As a consequence, a loan which seems to give good value becomes far more expensive.

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