Funeral cover without medical questions

An insurer that does not ask about your health has to protect itself some other way, because otherwise the people most likely to claim would be the people most likely to apply. The standard mechanism in New Zealand is an initial period, usually around two years, during which the policy pays the full sum insured only for accidental death. Death from illness in that window generally results in a refund of the premiums paid, sometimes with interest, rather than the sum insured.

After the initial period, full cover applies for any cause of death, and the policy behaves like ordinary life cover. That is a real promise, and for someone with a health history that would otherwise make them uninsurable, it is worth having.

The problem is that the product is marketed on acceptance rather than on cover. “Guaranteed acceptance” is true and largely irrelevant; what matters is what happens if you die in month fourteen. Read that clause first, because it is the one that determines whether the policy does anything for your family in the years when you have just bought it.

• Death from illness during the initial period, usually resulting in a refund of premiums instead of the sum insured.
• Suicide within a stated period from the policy start, which applies to underwritten cover too.
• Death outside the policy’s age limits, since entry and expiry ages are strictly applied.
• Some policies exclude specific circumstances such as death arising from criminal activity.
• Any misstatement of age or identity at application, which can void or adjust the policy.

Note that the absence of health questions cuts both ways. Because the insurer did not ask, there is little scope for a claim to be declined on non-disclosure grounds after the initial period — which is a genuine advantage of these products for someone with a complicated medical history who is worried about getting the disclosure right.

These are the details that decide whether the cover does what you expected. Read them before you compare on price.

• The length of the initial period and exactly what is paid if you die from illness during it.
• Whether the refund of premiums during that period includes interest.
• The maximum entry age and the maximum sum insured available.
• Whether premiums stop at a stated age, and whether total premiums are capped.
• Whether the sum insured increases over time, and whether the premium increases with it.
• How the policy defines accidental death, since that is the only cover during the initial period.

Every New Zealand insurer writes funeral insurance in new zealand to its own wording, and the words are where the money is. Two policies that look identical on price can pay very differently when it matters. Closing that gap is the entire job of an adviser.

• Non-underwritten products differ on initial period length, refund terms and premium caps — the comparison is entirely in those details.
• An adviser can run a fully underwritten application first, so that a non-underwritten product is a fallback rather than an assumption.
• Where a deferral applies, an adviser can diarise the date you can reapply for full cover.
• For applicants with a serious health history, some insurers will consider cover that others will not, even where a previous application was declined.

There are three ways to buy life cover in New Zealand, and they are not equivalent. You can buy direct from one insurer, which means you see one product range and one underwriting appetite. You can buy through your bank, which usually means a single insurer’s product sold under the bank’s brand, often with narrower definitions. Or you can go through an adviser, who quotes several insurers at once and is required to put your interests first.

The premium you pay is the same either way. Insurers build adviser commission into their pricing whether or not an adviser is involved, so going direct does not get you a discount — it just removes the person whose job is to argue your corner at application and at claim time.

• An adviser can see which insurer is currently taking your health history on standard terms, and which one will load or exclude it.
• An adviser can structure cover across two insurers if that produces a better outcome than putting everything with one.
• An adviser handles the underwriting back-and-forth, and is the person who chases the claim when a family is least able to.
• An adviser has to document why the recommendation suits you, which is a written record you can hold them to.

We are a referral service, not an insurer. We do not quote premiums and we do not sell policies. What we do is put you in front of one licensed New Zealand adviser who can compare the market properly.

1. 1

   You tell us what you are looking at

   The form takes about a minute. Nobody asks for your medical history on a web form — that conversation happens with the adviser, properly, and only once you have decided to proceed.

2. 2

   An adviser calls you

   A licensed New Zealand adviser talks through your situation: who depends on you, what you owe, what you already have in place, and what you are actually worried about.

3. 3

   They compare the market

   The adviser quotes across the major insurers, checks which of them will take your health history on the best terms, and puts the options side by side in writing.

4. 4

   You decide, in your own time

   There is no obligation and no cost to you. If the answer is that you already have enough cover, a good adviser will tell you that.