Life insurance and MS!

Life insurance feels like a joke! So… My bank manger calls me in recently and expresses his concern that my current life insurance policy doesn’t cover all my mortgage, so I agree to looking into a second policy. Scottish Widows asks my doctor for a medical report, this then results in my new policy quote doubling! But to top it off, I have today received a letter from Scottish Widows telling me I was dishonest when taking out my original policy in 2011 as I answered no to the question asking if I had MS - as far as I was concerned back then I didn’t and I was 100% healthy, I didn’t know any different until I suffered a second relapse in sep last year and was then diagnosed with MS! And as a result they will be doubling my monthly payments! I’m not a happy bunny - I think someone will be getting a stern phone call from me tomorrow! Liana x

What rubbish !you can’t possibly answer yes unless you have a diagnoses from your DR / neuro. They can’t penalise you for something that reared its ugly head AFTER the policy was taken out. Tell them your solicitor if furious… Lynn x

Hi Liana

The question of disclosure is a tricky one. It all depends on whether you had any investigations for neurological symptoms prior to taking out the policy in 2011 and whether you disclosed that on the proposal at the time.

If you can honestly say no to the above then they cannot increase your premiums and they are acting unfairly. Scottish Widows are obviously using something from the recent medical report to justify the hike in premiums. Did you get a copy of the report or can you obtain a copy now so you know what was said?

Tracey x

If a person has answered everything asked honestly and in good faith and later turns out to have been iller than they could have known or guessed,that should be the company’s problem, not yours! That is surely just something the insurer has to take like a man - it is part of the business. Quite unjust to blame the customer. In your shoes I would want copies of the questions they asked back then and the answers you gave and get them to explain in writing how they think you were acting dishonestly, so you have a chance to clear your name. You don’t want an uncontested accusation of dishonesty sitting on your file. Alison

Thankyou for your replies. I have spoken to Scottish Widows today, and they have explained that as I had experienced some pins and needles prior to taking out the policy, but I didn’t disclose this as at the time as it was a one off and unknown episode and at the time an MS dx hadn’t even crossed my mind, but unknown to me it was logged on my medical file as a first episode. They said even though I hadn’t been dx when taking out the policy, because on the medical report it showed an incident they needed to take that into consideration as to if It would progress into MS or was it irrelevant, and they felt it would progress into MS hence my letter and increase in policy payments - it was easy for them to make that decision once I had been honest by contacting them and informing them of my change in health! Anyway I am looking at getting quotes from some other companies, see what’s available! Thankyou again Liana :slight_smile:

Hi Liana

That’s easy for them to say with hindsight but if your GP didn’t consider the pins and needles to be anything serious and didn’t refer you for any neurological tests I don’t see how it could have been logged as ‘an incident’.

Scottish Widows cannot do this if you didn’t have any further tests at the time and I would refer the case to the Ombudsman. The problem you now have with getting other quotes is that you do have a diagnosis and they are all going to weight the premiums accordingly.

Tracey x