Life Insurance disclosure?

[EasterRat]

Hey guys,

Been poking around since discovering I have BAV which requires OHS fairly soon. One topic is my insurance policy. I read through it and talked to my lawyer but still have no clear answer to my duties to report this issue to them. Anyone have any experience on this? I'm in Canada and have a term policy that renews every year automatically. Thanks for Tony thoughts or for advice on which direction to search in.

 

[AZ Don]

I have a few years left on a 20 year term insurance policy. I never even considered notifying them of my BAV and aortic aneurysm. If you apply for new insurance you have to honestly answer their questions, but I am not aware of any obligation to update them on whatever medical issues come up over the life of the policy. There is no chance I would ever be able to get a new policy now.

 

[dick0236]

I have a few years left on a 20 year term insurance policy. I never even considered notifying them of my BAV and aortic aneurysm. If you apply for new insurance you have to honestly answer their questions, but I am not aware of any obligation to update them on whatever medical issues come up over the life of the policy. There is no chance I would ever be able to get a new policy now.

In the USA there is no requirement, or reason, to notify the insurer of any change in health once the policy is issued. There is a two year contestable period after the issue date of a policy when the insurer could challenge the coverage if you knew, and didn't disclose, health information on your application.....after that a life insurance policy is non-contesable by the insurer......for the duration of that contract

Not sure about Canadian insurance law..

 

[epstns]

E-R, If you are in The States, I agree with Dick. Once the contract is issued and is past any probationary period, you have no obligation to supply updates as you learn new things. If there was such a requirement, most life insurance policies would become null and void before the insured's death, if their death was caused by any medical condition.

Don - I was in your situation a few years ago. I had a 20-year term life policy that was reaching the end of its term. I opted to maintain the term insurance, although at a newly assessed premium. There was no new application required, thus no new medical questionnaire to ask about current health status. This was just an extension of the existing policy at an age-adjusted premium. Due to my age (I'm now 69), my premium jumped from about $900/year to over $2,000/year, but otherwise I would have been unable to obtain any significant amount of life insurance at all.

If your insurance needs are very modest (say, $10k or $20K), you may be able to obtain a group insurance policy from a professional association, fraternal organization, or even AARP.

 

[EasterRat]

Awesome, thanks for the feedback. I will be getting mine checked out by my lawyer cause I'm a squirrel like that. It would be super good to put this out of my mind before the knives and saws and such...I went from being convinced I had to disclose to thinking maybe not so much...interesting stuff. Any idea on how they see "pre-existing"? My BAV has been "existing" since birth I suppose, though I just recently made it's acquaintance!

 

[dick0236]

............ Any idea on how they see "pre-existing"? My BAV has been "existing" since birth I suppose, though I just recently made it's acquaintance!

If it has been diagnosed and is in your medical file it is a "pre-existing condition".

 

[marc_kowal]

When I had my life insurance quoted, I was still pre-surgery and my rates were pretty high since I was in a higher risk tier; but after my surgery, my rates went down (even though I was now on Warfarin). The reason it went down was because I already had my surgery, I was less of a risk to them. So there is some light at the end of the insurance tunnel.