Life insurance after cancer

Yes, it's possible to get life insurance after suffering from cancer.

If you've had cancer in the past an insurer is likely to regard the illness as a pre-existing medical condition.

With over 200 types of cancer now prevalent in society, it’s predicted that one in two people will develop some form of cancer in their lifetime^[1].

This highlights the growing need for life insurance to protect your loved ones financially should the worst happen, but many question whether they’ll be able to secure cover after a cancer diagnosis.

Thankfully, there are a number of insurers which offer policies to those who’ve previously had cancer.

However, if the type of cancer was of a certain severity or resulted in further medical complications, there’s the possibility you may be denied life insurance altogether.

Keep reading this in-depth guide to find out how a cancer diagnosis is likely to affect your ability to secure life cover…

Using an insurance broker with specialised staff, such as our impaired life insurance team, could help you to get covered.

Yes, you’ll need to disclose a current or previous cancer diagnosis during the application process.

Failure to provide this information is known as non-disclosure and it can prevent a pay out from being made to your loved ones when the time comes.

The exception to this is an over 50s plan as you won’t be obligated to disclose any medical information with this type of cover.

If you already have life cover in place and are diagnosed with cancer during the term, you aren’t obligated to inform your insurer.

As long as all the information provided at the point of application was correct, your new diagnosis won’t have an impact on your current policy.

The cost of life insurance premiums after cancer can be affected by a number of factors.

The sooner you apply for life insurance after recovery, the higher your monthly life insurance premium is likely to be.

This is because the chance of recurrence becomes less as time goes on and therefore, you become less of a risk to the insurer over time.

The type and stage of your cancer, as well as the treatment you've received, also has a significant effect on the cost of your premium. This is to account for the likelihood of cancer returning.

It's highly likely that your insurer will want to obtain information from your consultant, as well as have you undergo a medical, prior to calculating your premium.

Breast cancer is the most common form of cancer among woman, affecting 2.1 million women each year. Accounting for 15% of all cancer deaths in women^[2].

Obtaining life insurance after breast cancer is still possible.

But, as discussed above, you may experience loaded premiums due to the risk you’ll pose or your application may be postponed until a recovery period has been reached.

It’s also highly likely that there will be an exclusion for breast cancer written into your policy, meaning your loved ones won’t be able to make a claim if you pass away as a result of breast cancer.

Melanoma is the fifth most common cancer in the UK, with around 15,400 people being diagnosed with the condition each year. As with many other cancers, the risk of being diagnosed with skin cancer increases as you get older^[4].

It’s still possible to secure life insurance if you’ve been diagnosed with skin cancer.

If you’ve been diagnosed with skin cancer prior to securing life insurance, insurers will need to know certain information about your condition.

This includes when you were diagnosed, what stage the cancer was at, what treatment you received and when you last had treatment.

Premiums may be increased due to the higher risk you pose to the insurer, or your application may be postponed until a specified recovery period has been reached.

Insurers may also want to contact your GP or consultant or may ask you to undergo a medical exam to get a better understanding of your condition.

Unfortunately, if diagnosed with terminal cancer, you'll be unable to secure conventional term-based life insurance as your risk is too high and the cost of your pay out can't be offset by that of your premium.

However, even with terminal cancer, you still have life insurance options.

If you're aged between 50-85, an over 50s plan offers guaranteed life insurance with no medical. Meaning you have no obligation to disclose your cancer.

The only condition to take into consideration is that you're required to live a minimum of 1 or 2 years from the start of the policy. This is known as the waiting or qualifying period.

As a result, your life expectancy diagnosis will determine whether or not this option is appropriate.

If you have life cover already in place when being diagnosed with terminal cancer, check your policy details to see if it includes terminal illness cover.

This will allow you to make an early claim on your policy and receive an early pay out, which can help you fund medical treatment and get your financial affairs in order.

Your policy won't be affected as long as you're honest during the application.

As long as you’ve fully disclosed all the required information about your medical wellbeing during the application process, your existing life insurance won’t be affected and the pay out will be honoured by the insurer.

Certain cover options will provide you with a pay out if you're diagnosed with cancer during the term of your policy. Typically this in the form of:

Critical illness cover - this form of cover can be added onto a life insurance policy for an additional fee. It will allow you to make a claim if you’re diagnosed with a serious illness (that’s listed within the policy). Often, this includes some forms of cancer.

Terminal illness cover - typically comes included with a term-based life insurance policy for no extra cost. This type of cover will allow you to make an early claim and receive an early pay out if you’re diagnosed with a life threatening illness, such as terminal cancer, and predicted to pass away within 12 months.

Being diagnosed with cancer doesn't affect your special event option

A special event option allows you to increase your level of cover without the need for additional underwriting. It is included in some, but not all, policies, or it may be added as an optional benefit which incurs an additional cost.

If your policy includes the special event option, it can be used for life changing events such as having a baby, moving house or getting married.

Even if you're diagnosed with cancer, you still have this option available to you and are able to increase your level of cover in the instance of a specified special event occurring.

A life insurance pay out for a cancer sufferer can vary depending on whether you were diagnosed before or after your application.

As stated, being diagnosed when your life insurance is already in place doesn't affect the terms of your policy.

Therefore, when you pass away, a pay out will be made to your loved ones as it would with any other cause of death.

However, if you had been diagnosed prior to your life insurance application, there's the possibility that death from cancer may have been written into your policy as an exclusion.

If this is the case and your cause of death is as a result of your cancer, the policy will be deemed invalid and your loved ones won't receive a pay out.

For this reason, it's always essential to read the terms of your policy to determine exactly what causes of death are covered.

The majority of term-based policies now have terminal illness cover included. Therefore, if you're diagnosed with terminal cancer once your cover is already in place (and given less than 12 months to live), you can receive an early pay out.

Finally, if you already have additional critical illness cover and are diagnosed with cancer during the policy, you can receive a pay out.