Bowel cancer history and insurance underwriting

Because bowel screening is now routine in New Zealand, a great many applications include a colonoscopy in the record. Most of those are unremarkable from an underwriting perspective, and a polyp found and removed with a benign histology is usually a mild factor for life cover. It still has to be disclosed, and the report will usually be obtained.

A treated cancer is a full assessment on the same pattern as other cancer underwriting: the specifics recorded at diagnosis, the treatment given, the date it finished, and the surveillance since. Where an inflammatory bowel condition sits alongside, it is assessed as its own risk rather than folded into the cancer history.

The branching is early and depends on what the histology recorded.

• Whether the finding was a polyp, a cancer, or an inflammatory condition.
• The date of the procedure and what the histology recorded.
• For a cancer, the staging and grading, treatment given, and the date it finished.
• The surveillance schedule and the date of the next scheduled colonoscopy.
• Whether any ongoing medication continues.
• Family history, which is asked about specifically in this area.

Evidence commonly requested

• The colonoscopy and histology reports.
• A specialist or oncology report where there was a cancer diagnosis.
• Full GP notes.

What underwriters look at over time is accumulated years since treatment, clear surveillance findings recorded at each scheduled colonoscopy, no recurrence, and a recent specialist letter. Because surveillance is scheduled rather than continuous, applications made shortly before a due colonoscopy are sometimes deferred until the result exists — a timing question worth raising before applying.

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

• That a benign polyp removal is disclosable even though it is usually a mild factor.
• That an inflammatory bowel condition is a separate assessment with its own questions.
• That a due-but-not-yet-done surveillance colonoscopy can cause a deferral.
• Whether a loading offered reduces with time since treatment.
• Whether a trauma exclusion is written to the diagnosis or to cancer generally.

Every New Zealand insurer writes applications with a bowel cancer history 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.

• Insurers differ on how they treat screening findings, and some are markedly more relaxed than others.
• An adviser can advise on timing around a scheduled colonoscopy so the file is complete when it is assessed.
• Having the histology and colonoscopy reports at the outset avoids a long evidence loop.
• Where a trauma exclusion is offered, an adviser can ask for narrower wording before you accept.

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.