Insurance after cancer

The first thing to say is that a cancer history is not the end of an insurance conversation. New Zealand insurers write this business regularly, and the terms available at five years since treatment are usually very different from the terms available at one. The process is slow and evidence-heavy, but it is a process with a path through it.

The second is that the assessment is specific. Underwriters do not rate a category called cancer; they rate a particular diagnosis with a particular recorded stage and a particular treatment record. That is why the questionnaire is detailed and why a specialist report matters so much — a summary in your own words cannot answer the questions the rating table asks.

Every insurer will want the same core facts, obtained from clinical records rather than from you.

• The exact diagnosis and the date it was made.
• The staging and grading recorded at diagnosis.
• What treatment was given, and the date it finished.
• Whether there has been any recurrence, and what surveillance you are under.
• The date and content of your most recent specialist review.
• Whether any ongoing medication or monitoring continues.

Evidence commonly requested

• An oncology or specialist report, which is the central document.
• Full GP notes covering the diagnosis, treatment and follow-up.
• Recent surveillance results where these exist.

Time is the dominant factor. Many insurers apply a loading that steps down as the years since treatment accumulate, and some remove it entirely at a stated point. What supports that path is uninterrupted surveillance attendance, no recurrence recorded, and a recent specialist letter. Because reinsurer views on individual cancer types have shifted markedly, terms declined or heavily loaded some years ago are frequently worth testing again.

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

• That the outcome depends on the specific diagnosis, not on the word cancer.
• Whether a loading offered is fixed or reduces with time since treatment.
• Whether a trauma exclusion names the original cancer or excludes cancer as a whole.
• That a deferral during or shortly after treatment is expected and is not a refusal.
• That older declines should be retested, because appetite in this area has changed.

Every New Zealand insurer writes applications after cancer 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.

• Insurer appetite differs by cancer type, which is not published and is exactly what an adviser tracks.
• An adviser can pre-assess anonymously so that testing several insurers creates no decline record.
• Getting the oncology report into the file at the outset is the difference between weeks and months.
• Where full cover is unavailable now, an adviser can diarise the case and revisit as time passes.

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.