Life insurance...a tale of hindsight..

[Anastasius]

…or how I really cocked things up. A cautionary tale that may prevent anyone considering life insurance from making the same mistake that I did.

Last night over dinner the conversation came round to life insurance. I have a policy with Aviva. It’s needed to protect LOML in case of my demise to clear the mortgage and have money to get men in to finish the house ready for sale. I do have a policy with Aviva but with a heavy loading on the premiums because the doctor, during the insurance medical, heard a mild heart murmur and very faint carotid bruit? Emphasis on 'mild' and 'very faint'.

In an attempt to get a lower premium I recently applied to Scottish Widows. The quote came through yesterday. Premium even more than the current policy. And it’s all to do with ‘heart murmur’ and ‘carotid brut’ being on my medical record.

I now realise (hindsight) that the scale or magnitude of either murmur or bruit, as far as underwriters are concerned, are pretty much irrelevant, because the qualification ‘mild’ and 'very faint' have no impact on reducing the hefty premium loading. It is all to do with those two words ( murmur and bruit) being on your GP medical record.

But at the time of the Aviva medical, my GP…my NHS records…nor I had any knowledge of either murmur or bruit. Nothing. Nada. So had this remained the status quo, going along to Scottish Widows may well have had a completely different result. More than likely, in fact, because it was a simple at-home nurse checkup with Scottish Widows. Not a stethoscope in sight. Scottish Widows would have had no knowledge of murmur or bruit. No loading therefore. Premium much less than the Aviva one. Result.

But I didn’t keep quiet, did I ? My error way back then was in thinking that I could provide Aviva with reassurance, based on tests and scans, that the murmur and bruit were very, very minor and so get the loading reduced. It’s the ‘problem solver’ in me. The inner-engineer. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. To get these scans, you go to your GP and you’re then stuffed as those two words then appear on your medical record in perpetuity. There to give any other life assurance company the heebie-jeebies. I should simply have said and done nothing. Simply applied to another life insurance company and chose one without a doctor's medical.

It was a very expensive mistake.

Ain’t hindsight wonderful.

[smittims]

Thanks for sharing that with us: a useful warning. I guess Life (and House) insurance is something many of us don't think about in enough detail. It could be more than just useful to take the time to check occasionally.

[richardfinegold]

So as a “GP” I am constantly writing letters to insurance companies for cases like yours. Sometimes the patients initiate the request, but more often it is filling out forms from insurance companies that are requesting clarification. The patient has to sign more forms allowing their information to be released. I assume that you have gone this route? In a few cases where the patient was denied coverage for what appeared to me unreasonable circumstances I advised the patients to retain an abogado, and I remember at least one instance where the intervention on an attorney succeeded

[Anastasius]

So as a “GP” I am constantly writing letters to insurance companies for cases like yours. Sometimes the patients initiate the request, but more often it is filling out forms from insurance companies that are requesting clarification. The patient has to sign more forms allowing their information to be released. I assume that you have gone this route? In a few cases where the patient was denied coverage for what appeared to me unreasonable circumstances I advised the patients to retain an abogado, and I remember at least one instance where the intervention on an attorney succeeded

Many thanks, Richard, for this.

All the insurance companies that I have applied to over the ears have simply asked for my complete medical history. Basically so they can go 'hunting' and 'cherry-picking'. As you probably know, the front summary sheet has a section for Active issues. The only thing I have listed is hypertension but is there only insofar as the annual checkup. When they dig down to the echcardiogram they will see 'No further monitoring required'.

But that's not good enough for the life company...just those two words is enough.

For my current policy, Aviva did want to decline cover but my GP also wrote explaining how they misinterpreted the medical record. But to be honest I'm sick and tired of the whole lot of them (insurance companies). My current policy runs until mid 2007. We will have moved by then (hopefully), mortgage paid off and then we can take a view whether we cancel it after the move. I'd like to.

[richardfinegold]

Many thanks, Richard, for this.

All the insurance companies that I have applied to over the ears have simply asked for my complete medical history. Basically so they can go 'hunting' and 'cherry-picking'. As you probably know, the front summary sheet has a section for Active issues. The only thing I have listed is hypertension but is there only insofar as the annual checkup. When they dig down to the echcardiogram they will see 'No further monitoring required'.

But that's not good enough for the life company...just those two words is enough.

For my current policy, Aviva did want to decline cover but my GP also wrote explaining how they misinterpreted the medical record. But to be honest I'm sick and tired of the whole lot of them (insurance companies). My current policy runs until mid 2007. We will have moved by then (hopefully), mortgage paid off and then we can take a view whether we cancel it after the move. I'd like to.

Did you mean 2027?
I understand your frustration. However I am not quite clear what happened when you protested the decision when your Doctor wrote a letter? Did the Insurance Company give you a written explanation as to why this didn’t change their decision?

[Serial_Apologist]

Would this have been down to the narrowest possible criteria being programmed into the algorhythm determining the conditions, one wonders?

[Anastasius]

Did you mean 2027?
I understand your frustration. However I am not quite clear what happened when you protested the decision when your Doctor wrote a letter? Did the Insurance Company give you a written explanation as to why this didn’t change their decision?

My apologies for the confusion. Yes, 2027!

Aviva initially turned me down and when pressed as to reason, we found that they'd misread several aspects of my medical report and also made some erroneous assumptions. My GP wrote to them clarifying the situation and they then agreed to give cover but with a large loading. Reluctantly I accepted it.

As far as Scottish Widows are concerned, it's pointless my GP writing to them since there is nothing further that she can add that isn't already in my medical report.