Tumors With No Insurance
Three years ago when James Halliday was informed that he had cancer of the brain, life was would never be the same but following a life-saving operation his recovery has been good. Yet he lives with the knowledge that the cancer could at some stage in the next 10 years. He will also have to take tablets to lessen his epilepsy for the rest of his life.
Mr Halliday, who is now 41, believes he is the most “fortunate man alive” to have survived. Nevertheless he is unable to get life insurance.
Mr Halliday and his wife have a 3-year-old son, Jason, and a year ago they moved from Sussex to Barnsley in Yorkshire. The family remortgaged 85,000 pounds with the Lloyds TSB but Mr Halliday was unable to protect the remortgage with life insurance cover in his name.
“The Lloyds TSB’s underwriters turned down my application for life assurance. Sally has Life insurance and critical illness insurance cover for protection for you home,” he says.
The probability of getting life insurance are on the whole doubtful if a request is made during the first 5 years of having been told that you have a a heart attack or a nasty kind of cancer. Should the patient make a full recovery within a set period of time, usually up to three to five years, insurers will think about insuring them again but will probably apply a “loading” on to the monthly payment. In many circumatances this may be as large as eight times the price that other clients pay.
During the first 5 years after an operation, someboby in Mr Halliday’s circumstances would be refused life assurance. After this period, life assurance cover should be easy to get “but at a highly priced premium”.
The life insurance company which underwrites for high-risk clients (those who play perilous sports or with serious illnesses is the Insurance Centre Special Risks. It contends to have a victory rate of seventy five per cent when placing its customers with insurance companies. Special Risks Services says that it would be a further year before they would be able to contemplate an application from Mr Halliday.
Rates will undoubtedly be very expensive because of his epilepsy and compared to the general population there would still be an increased mortality risk. Unless an insurance cover specifically excluded cancers, Mr Elliot would without doubt be refused any critical illness protection.
Therefore as a result of specialist financial advice, the Halliday family has saved up eight months emergency money and put it to one side, to all intents and purposes a self-insurance cover.
And there is a little good news for Mr Halliday. Cheltenham and Gloucester, his previous mortgage provider, has permitted him to maintain 50,000 pounds of life life assurance from an existing policy – albeit at a cost of forty pounds a month. This type of policy is called a Guaranteed Insurability Option (GIO) and means the insurers will allow the insured up to half of the original amount assured without underwriting.
On the other hand it is not just serious medical complaints that can impact on life assurance cover. Simon Harris, chairman of Manchester Rugby Club had his first application refused because of a minor skin condition. Various trips to doctors and no end of phone calls to Legal and General they finally sorted things out. Mr Harris’s suggestion to anyone in the boat is to make an application first and support it with a full medical report.