Life insurance and cancer

When you take out life insurance, you’re buying protection for the people you love if you should die during the time you hold the policy.

For most policies, it covers death by many causes, including cancer. Usually, the only exceptions are suicide or self-inflicted injury during the first 12 months of holding the policy. 

Before we agree to provide you with life insurance, we ask you a series of questions about your health and lifestyle. But that doesn’t mean you don’t be able to get life insurance if you have a health condition – even something like cancer.

When you apply for life insurance, it’s important you tell us about any medical conditions you have. We may ask you to have a medical examination  – don’t worry, we’ll pay for this if we ask for it.

It’s possible that we may not be able to offer you cover, but there is also a chance we might. The price you pay will depend on the level of cover you choose and your personal circumstances.

So, if you’re looking for life insurance and you already have a medical condition – even cancer – it’s still worth applying to see what kind of cover you could get.

Having a history of cancer in the family doesn’t mean you can’t get the cover you need. It may mean you’re paying a higher premium for your cover, but that’s not necessarily a given.

As we’ve mentioned, when you apply for life insurance, we ask you to answer a number of questions about your health and your lifestyle. This will include information about any medical conditions your closest family members have had.

It’s important that you tell us about any known history, but it’s not a deal breaker on getting cover.

You don’t need separate terminal illness cover if you have a life insurance policy – it’s all part and parcel of what you pay your premiums for. 

When you have a life insurance policy, you should tell us if you’re diagnosed with a terminal illness. If it meets our policy definition and you’re not expected to live longer than 12 months, we’ll payout out the value of your policy. 

However, if your doctor thinks you might live longer or there is treatment that could extend your life, we won’t pay out. 

The key difference between these two types of policy is when they pay out.

With critical illness cover, we’ll pay out if you are diagnosed with one of the 52 conditions listed on our policy plan.  It doesn’t pay out if you die. Instead, you can use the money to help pay your bills at a time when you may not be able to work and you need to focus on your health.

With life insurance, we only pay out when you die or you're diagnosed with a terminal illness within the term of the policy.  With life insurance, the money could go to your loved ones after you've gone.

Some life insurance policies - including ours - let you add on critical illness cover so you can protect both yourself and the people you love from the unexpected.  Our critical illness cover is a separate policy that can be purchased at the same time as our life insurance.

Learn more about the differences between critical illness cover and life insurance.