My son has tried getting life insurance for himself but they won’t cover him for MS. Does anybody know of any companies that would cover him? Thanks in advance
My life insurance is with Aviva.
I rang them direct for a quote, they even paid for me to have a medical.
The reason they wanted me to have a medical was because of high blood pressure, the MS was not an issue at all.
Maybe I’ve been lucky in getting insurance, but I find it odd that people with MS either find it difficult in getting life insurance, or if they do they pay high premiums.
I pay £33 per month for joint cover wit my wife, both in our 50’s, MS and high blood pressure declared.
Seems a fare price to me ?
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I agree - there’s often a problem with Critical Illness cover but I would have thought Life Insurance would be o.k. I think I’ve seen adverts for Life Ins cover where they state that no medical is required - (not sure if that’s right.)
Definitely. I certainly would not of needed the medical just because of the MS. If I recall, I had to do a urine test as-well which picked up protein, so it was that plus the high blood pressure that pushed Aviva to call for a medical before offering the insurance. The underwriter confirmed when the policy was offered that the premium was inflated due to the high blood pressure, nothing else.
I’m really sorry but just read back through my post and realised that its the critical illness part that he was on about.
Any help appreciated
If there’s a problem with the m.s. could someone get Critical Illness cover which would exclude m.s. as one of the conditions covered ???
Ah, now Critical Illness is another matter.
No matter how hard I tried to get that it was a complete NO NO !
My guess is that if you did manage to find a policy it would be extremely expensive.
Also trying to get MS alone excluded might be another problem, because as you know MS effects the nervous system, so my guess would be that any illness that just might involve the nervous system, no matter how unlikely it might be at the time, could effect an insurance payout.
I think any insurance company would instantly use this excuse as a get out clause not to pay out.
Im not sure if you can pick and choose what critical illness to be covered for, especially if you already have such an illness like MS lurking in the background, which is very complex and still a bit of an unknown.
Why are they asking family history? Are they allowed to? What if you don’t know.
Mines with legal and general. About £15 a month. GP just had to complete a form. Hope you get this sorted soon. Might be worth going through the MS Society recommended insurers. Good luck
They ask because some illnesses can be hereditary.
I believe that bowel cancer for instance can run in families, breast cancer is another one isnt it ?
If you don’t know. then you don’t know, but if for instance you had been for a cancer screening because of family history then that could well be on your GP records and, god forbid your family needed to claim if you passed away or had a critical illness, you can bet your last penny that the insurance company would not pay as information was withheld, or when they check your GP records before offering a policy they might not proceed after finding out that there was indeed certain illnesses within your direct family.
I found quotes via the MS Society absolutely scandalous., it was far far cheaper to ring around and deal with insurance companies direct.
The title of this thread is confusing and I think this reflects in the answers. Who wants insurance? Who has MS? If its the son, then they will ask about family history, but there is no proven link that hereditory plays a factor with a diagnosis. Thats what I was always told.
Do not waste your money you will not die early, they are conning you to buy something you do not need.
MS or NO MS, taking out life insurance usually prompts underwriters to ask if there are certain illnesses within the family, if you answer yes, then usually the next question is who it is in the family that had the illness, mother, father, siblings.
Life insurance is a big money maker for insurance companies, the last thing they want to do is payout £100000 on a policy that’s paying them £25 per month.
So, lets just say you have MS and all the lesions are in the spine, nothing in the brain, however when you are first diagnosed with MS theres a very very good chance you had a full MRI scan which found the lesions in the spine.
6 years after being diagnosed you take life insurance, declaring the MS and your general health to the best of your knowledge, one of the questions on the proposal form might ask something like “Have you ever had a scan on your brain”, this was a question on Aviva’s proposal form !
You might answer no, because as far as you can recall the MRI you had 6 years ago was on the spine, yet the chances are that the MRI looking for MS would of more than likely included the brain, have you withheld information, no, would the insurance company treat this as withholding information, who knows, but any insurance company assessor who has to authorise a payout wouldn’t be doing his/her job if they didn’t query something like this when looking back through your medical notes.
Let me offer another example.
Firstly pretend I didnt have MS, but the rest is in fact true.
I recently had a bout of tinnitus which has been there off and on for about 8 months, my GP sent me to a ENT consultant who then sent me for an MRI, apparently this is now fairly common when someone has reoccurring tinnitus ?
Now, as far as I’m concerned this was an MRI looking within the ear canals for the cause of my tinnitus, certainly not looking for a life threatening condition.
Yet, if I were in the process of taking out life insurance and I was asked “Had I ever had a brain scan” the chances are I would say NO, because as far as I’m concerned I never had, however as far as the insurance company would be concerned an MRI on the head would include a brain scan, because when you have an MRI due to tinnitus the radiologist who looks at the scan is actually looking for growths or tumours deep within the inner ear bone structure, scull and or any abnormalities within the brain, which can also cause tinnitus.
So you can see how easy it can be for an insurance company to have grounds not to pay out on a claim simply because you didn’t realise or understand the importance of the questions being asked by the insurance company.
Good advice from jactac.
I have critical illness cover with aviva, taken out with family history (mother) MS, I did not have if myself at the time. Policy approved with MS or any MS related condition excluded. When I was diagnosed I phoned them to ask if I needed to declare the diagnosis, and they said no it wasn’t an issue as the policy was based on the situation at the time. I doubt he’d get cover to include MS but shouldn’t have an issue for insurance in general.
Thats the thing, its a matter of timing.
If you take out a policy with or without critical illness cover before the MS then it doesn’t matter later on if your health changes as the policy was taken prior to health changes.