So you're thinking about taking out some life insurance .....

[RogerS]

A cautionary tale.....

All other things being equal, if you need to have a medical then hope that the doctor doing it is not a cardiologist. DAMHIKT. I recently had one such and unfortunately he was. Cardiologists have very well-trained ears and will hear all sorts of things in your heart that other doctors won't. Trouble is he/she will report back as such. He heard a tiny, tiny heart murmur and a very faint carotid bruit. That went into his report. Result....not offering to provide cover.

So I went round the loop of having it all checked out. For starters, my GP could not hear anything. Echocardiogram showed trivial signs of anything wrong. On a scale of 1 to 100...around 5. MRI scan...ditto. Had I been seen by a different doctor for the medical then nothing would have been found and cover would have been provided.

As it is now, my medical record says 'heart murmur'. The life companies assume that I am going to drop dead tomorrow. I'm stuffed.

 

[imageel]

Bad luck... also don't believe what you may read on your medical record via the NHS app, it is heavily censored and omits many salient details. This is all part of the NHS's strategy of 'keeping the patient informed' whilst withholding any useful information you might use to challenge their sometimes cretinous decisions.

 

[Just4Fun]

I have to have an annual medical for one licence I hold. That involves a heart stress test (on a stationary bike) every 2nd year and a cardiologist report every 3rd year. I am convinced this medical examination is the most stressful thing I do all year. Luckily they haven't found anything yet.

 

[RogerS]

Bad luck... also don't believe what you may read on your medical record via the NHS app, it is heavily censored and omits many salient details. This is all part of the NHS's strategy of 'keeping the patient informed' whilst withholding any useful information you might use to challenge their sometimes cretinous decisions.

If you have an axe to grind regarding the NHS then please start your own thread and don't hijack mine.

 

[RogerS]

I have to have an annual medical for one licence I hold. That involves a heart stress test (on a stationary bike) every 2nd year and a cardiologist report every 3rd year. I am convinced this medical examination is the most stressful thing I do all year. Luckily they haven't found anything yet.

Pilot ?

 

[Blackswanwood]

There are quite a few insurers and brokers who specialise in providing cover for those with a medical condition. It’s referred to as “impaired life insurance“.

 

[RogerS]

There are quite a few insurers and brokers who specialise in providing cover for those with a medical condition. It’s referred to as “impaired life insurance“.

Thank you for the suggestion and I did a quick Google. Doesn't make much sense to me TBH. One of the brokers listed three companies that had turned me down. So what magic would this broker provide that my current broker could not ?

I think the message I would hope others might take away from this is that if you need to have a medical, try and find out whether or not the doctor doing it is a cardiologist or not !

 

[Blackswanwood]

Thank you for the suggestion and I did a quick Google. Doesn't make much sense to me TBH. One of the brokers listed three companies that had turned me down. So what magic would this broker provide that my current broker could not ?

Specialist knowledge of a niche area of the market and access to insurers that your broker may not use.

 

[sawtooth-9]

Always found the concept of life insurance interesting - especially those who claim to pay out if you are diagnosed with a terminal disease

Life is a terminal disease - nothing surer than you will die

Take out a policy, have a doctor declare that you are currently alive - but will die.
There is the terminal disease.

Make the claim while you can still enjoy the pay out

 

[Just4Fun]

Pilot ?

Nothing so glamorous. Motorsport international competition licence. The cardio checks are required by those of us over 45 years old.

 

[Jacob]

Always found the concept of life insurance interesting - especially those who claim to pay out if you are diagnosed with a terminal disease

Life is a terminal disease - nothing surer than you will die

Take out a policy, have a doctor declare that you are currently alive - but will die.
There is the terminal disease.

Make the claim while you can still enjoy the pay out

I've never quite seen the point. OK you are betting on a dead cert but you only cash in when you are dead.
I'd want to be buried with my coffin stuffed with the cash.

 

[paulrbarnard]

I've never quite seen the point. OK you are betting on a dead cert but you only cash in when you are dead.

Mine isn’t to benefit me it is to protect my family if I was to go unexpectedly. Now the kids are older and left home it certainly has less of an essential aspect to me but as I have had the policy for many years the cost is low and it doesn’t require me to have medical or any changes to terms and cover. Now I’m in my 60’s a policy with similar cover would cost a fortune.

You could argue that just putting the money into investment would have been a better use and with hindsight, knowing I didn’t die, that would be true but had I died in my fourties’ the few thousand that I paid in the preceding years would have been a fraction of the 100’s thousands my beneficiaries would have received.

Bottom line, it’s insurance. It is a needless expense until you need it.

 

[Lons]

I've never quite seen the point. OK you are betting on a dead cert but you only cash in when you are dead.
I'd want to be buried with my coffin stuffed with the cash.

The point of terminal illness insurance payout is that (theoretically) on verified diagnosis you get the money while you're still alive and you have that time to use it.

 

[Pabs]

I wouldn't say cardiologists are the only doctors that can pick up a murmur / bruit, faint or not.

Unless one has private health insurance or lives in a country with direct access to specialists (e.g stateside), here is usually a reason as to why one might be referred to a cardiologist in the first place.

That said if there was incorrect diagnosis made then one would be able to query this.

An alternative would be income protection which can be tied into mortgage as a decreasing premium as you pay it off or the same premium but with a sliding scale of cash payout in the event of critical illness / death.

 

[RogerS]

Specialist knowledge of a niche area of the market and access to insurers that your broker may not use.

I can see that that makes sense for anyone using a High Street broker.