Life Insurance Problems

Welcome @AdamM. I hope you get to see your son at or near Christmas. You must feel a sense of achievement having finished your chemo, I know I did.

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Hi…Hope everyone is well :slight_smile:
I was hoping to get some advise from anyone out there who has either been in or may currently be in a similar situation with respect to Life Insurance. I have a current legacy policy which expires in Dec 2020 (20 yr term comes to an end) and wanted to start a new one to replace this one. I am not having any luck trying to set up a new policy since being diagnosed with Follicular NHL, having undergone Radiotherapy then Chemo 2nd time around. I am currently in remission and i know the score with respect to relapse, but was still hoping to set this up as a nest egg for my kids in the future (for when anything happens to me) but i keep getting refused based on my condition. I have researched and can’t understand why they cant exclude this particular condition from the benefit or look to increase the premium or both…it is simple NO. Whilst it would be nice to get a complete cover package (understand the insurance companies are not stupid here) if i die as a result of something other than NHL i cant cover that??

Any suggestions welcomed for how to progress this one or equally on how set something up for the future.

I have copied in a website i found, in the hope it might help.

Many thanks,
xxx

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Hi Shelley,

I wanted to extend a very warm welcome to the forum. I hope you are doing ok?

These are great questions. I hope you don’t mind – I’m going to merge your question into another life insurance thread. Life Insurance Problems

You’ll see that others have had similar challenges to what you describe, and with your post, they might have additional insights they can provide.

We have found that policies with exclusions for cancer-related claims are exceedingly rare.

Do you have a Maggie’s Centre local to you? https://www.maggies.org/cancer-support/managing-practically/insurance-and-cancer/ Their advisors provide guidance around insurance concerns.

It sounds like you’ve done a lot of research, so I imagine you might have already explored these possibilities, but do you have a mortgage? You could contact your mortgage provider to see if life insurance is included in your repayments. Do you work for an employer which offers life insurance? You could ask HR about the eligibility conditions for schemes they offer.

There are some financial advisors who specialise in insurance for people living with pre-existing conditions. The Financial Conduct Authority maintains the Financial Services Register of advisors who are regulated and approved by them. You can find out more about them here: https://www.fca.org.uk/consumers/finding-adviser

I hope this has been helpful, Shelley? There are some resources and experiences mentioned in the comment thread above, which you might also find helpful.

Take care, Rebecca

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Hi @Shelley. Did you manage to something out?

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Hiya, my advisor has been hunting high and low but its a flat no. I am going to reach out to macmillan next and see what the next steps could be… It’s like everyone here is trying to stay as positive as possible which is exactly right… so many brokers try to beat us down and right us off…but we are not done yet! :wink:Xx

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Hi @Shelley. Good to hear from you. Very frustrating. Keep us updated on what McMillan say. Any information around this is useful to us all. I love your positivity! Take care X

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To right, @Shelley, you keep going and searching for life insurance, please do let us know how you get on with MacMillan and anyone else. Life insurance companies might have an organisation they have to adhere to.
You tell them in a weeks time it will be 17 years since I was diagnosed, I am 70yrs old and still here.
We await hearing from you, it must be so frustrating for you.

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@Shelley …and everyone else!

Keep the faith! Do not despair, you and yours won’t need any life cover for years!!

My experience says 3-5 years in remission will enable ‘larger’ insurance companies to actually ‘underwrite’.

This pandemic has caused many issues for underwriters - they depend massively on communicating with doctors and medical consultants who are not able to respond in the ‘normal’ way - just because of the pandemic. This has meant a lot of insurers have tightened criteria and a flat ‘no’ avoids much expense time and related anxiety!

As a registered adviser I would say - take advice - find an adviser. It is only through an adviser, you will find out about different options on low cost insurance ie. term insurance.

I have and continue to recommend ‘renewable’ term insurance. No value at any time - other than a claim, but at the end of 5 or 10 years, regardless of your health, you are guaranteed new terms to be offered, fir a further 5 or 10 years. A ‘website’ or a direct offer will NEVER offer this - ADVICE from a qualified regulated ADVISER is so so important!

Kindest, Adam x

PS; I end the year moving house next Thursday. I have held and hugged my 17 year old son. He is cooking the Christmas dinner with his sister. Blessed and lucky! X

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Gosh, @AdamM, you are certainly moving at an interesting time of year but perhaps good for your change of addresses. You brought a tear to my eye when you say about holding and hugging your 17 year old son. Mine is 47yrs old and he still hasn’t cooked me a meal, but as you say we are blessed and lucky.
When we moved I tripped over and broke my right arm. It made it interesting signing legal documents and nobody challenged my left hand scrawl.
Good luck with your move and not all boxes have to be emptied immediately !!!
Please let us know how you get on.

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@AdamM, such good advice! Hugs are simply the best! :blush:

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I had critical illness cover and was diagnosed with primary mylefibrosis. My claim was turned down as I previously did not disclose a lump I had due to a large spleen something I didn’t know what it was prior too diagnosis. Went to financial ombudsman no help. Nor were the insurance company. Basically no claim no life insurance now.

Realise I may have been at fault when not disclosing prior lump but wasn’t diagnosed with MF at the time. I know its a long shot but any advise re how I could challenge decision or probably more importantly get life insurance now that I have had a successful BMT and am a year in remission

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Hi @Thornman, I think insurance companies get so many people with their pre existing symptom or condition clause.
I believe it is up to any insurance company to consider whether the risk of insuring anyone is worth them taking on or not and what to charge if they will take on the risk.
Sorry I am not more help as I haven’t looked into it myself.

Hi @Thornman . That’s really frustrating isn’t it. Unfortunately, I have no idea how you can challenge this. I don’t know if the support line may be able to offer some advice? Let us know how you get on :blush:

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Thank you so much for the feedback Adam and everyone else, apologies for the very delayed reply.
I have tried two financial advisors to date with no luck so far.
Xmas came and I decided to focus on the ‘here and now’ and then our world changed forever with respect to covid… Yes life insurance would be nice, equally so is living and that is something no one should take for granted if we have learned anything over the last yr.
I will wait 5 yrs and revisit, challange once more… But in the mean time appreciate what I have :heart:
Will feedback once I know more, stay strong everyone xx

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Yes @Shelley, life insurance is a minefield, we should all appreciate what we have and life is for living.
Thank you for the reminder.
Yes, please feed back when you know more, we are here to support you and I would like to hear more from you.
Take care and have some treats.

Great to hear from you @Shelley. That sounds like a plan to me! How have you been?

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I’m sorry to hear about your situation with life insurance.

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Hi @aracelitwillis thanks for taking the time to post and welcome to our forum.
I look forward to hearing more about you.
Look after yourself.

Hi @aracelitwillis and welcome to the forum. How are things with you?

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