Type 2 diabetes and insurance underwriting

Insurers do not treat diabetes as a barrier. They treat it as a rateable condition with a large body of claims data behind it, which is a very different thing. Most New Zealand insurers have a dedicated diabetes questionnaire and a rating table that maps the answers to an outcome, so the process is more mechanical than most applicants expect.

What the underwriter is building is a picture of two things: how long the condition has been present, and how consistently it has been managed since. Everything they ask for serves one of those two questions. That is why a person diagnosed eight years ago with a stable record can end up on better terms than someone diagnosed last year with nothing yet to show.

The application will open a set of follow-up questions as soon as diabetes is disclosed. They tend to cover the same ground at every insurer, even where the wording differs.

• When you were diagnosed, and by whom.
• What medication or treatment you are currently on, and whether it has changed recently.
• Your most recent results and, often, the two or three before that.
• Whether you attend regular reviews, and who with — GP, diabetes nurse or specialist.
• Whether any related conditions have been recorded — eye, kidney, circulatory or nerve findings.
• Your height and weight, your smoking status, and whether blood pressure or cholesterol is also being treated.

Evidence commonly requested

• A report from your GP covering the diagnosis and the management record.
• Recent laboratory results, usually the most recent set plus historical readings.
• A specialist letter where you are under specialist review.
• Sometimes a nurse visit to record current height, weight and blood pressure.

What tends to improve the picture over time is documented consistency: stable results across several reviews, unchanged medication, attendance at scheduled appointments, and no new related findings in the notes. Underwriters also look at what sits alongside the diabetes — blood pressure, cholesterol, build and smoking status are assessed together rather than separately, and improvement in those is often what moves a rating.

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

• That income protection and life cover are underwritten against different risks, so expect different answers.
• Whether an offered exclusion covers diabetes alone or extends to circulatory and related conditions generally.
• Whether a loading offered is permanent or reduces after a stated period.
• That the insurer will read your full GP record, including entries made before diagnosis.
• That applying with a recent medication change often produces a deferral rather than a decline.

Every New Zealand insurer writes applications involving diabetes 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.

• Diabetes rating tables differ enough between New Zealand insurers that the same file can produce very different premiums.
• An adviser can pre-assess anonymously across several insurers before any application creates a record.
• Presenting recent results and a specialist letter up front usually produces better terms than letting the underwriter go looking.
• Where income protection is difficult, an adviser can look at TPD or trauma cover as a partial substitute.
• If a loading is applied, an adviser can request a review later once there is a longer record to show.

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.