High blood pressure and insurance underwriting

Blood pressure is a numeric rating factor with decades of actuarial history behind it, which makes it one of the more predictable things to have on a file. The insurer is not interested in whether you take medication as such — it is interested in what the readings look like and how consistently they have been recorded.

That produces a result people find counter-intuitive. Being on treatment with consistently recorded readings usually reads better to an underwriter than having a raised reading in the notes with nothing since. Treatment plus monitoring is evidence of a managed risk. A raised reading and silence is an unknown.

Disclosing blood pressure opens a short, specific question set.

• When it was first identified and by whom.
• What medication you are on, at what dose, and for how long.
• Whether the medication has changed recently.
• Your last two or three recorded readings.
• Whether any related investigations — heart, kidney or circulatory — have been done.
• Your build, cholesterol and smoking status, which are read alongside it.

Evidence commonly requested

• A GP report giving the diagnosis, treatment and recorded readings.
• A nurse visit to record a current reading, particularly where the sum insured is large.
• Occasionally a specialist letter where investigations have been done.

Over time, the things underwriters look for are a settled medication regime, a run of consistent readings, and no new investigations appearing in the notes. Where a loading was applied because readings were high or the treatment was new, a year or two of stable recorded readings is exactly the evidence that supports asking for it to be reviewed.

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

• That untreated raised readings usually rate worse than treated and controlled ones.
• That a nurse-visit reading taken on one anxious morning can affect an outcome — mention it if it is unrepresentative.
• Whether the insurer is rating blood pressure alone or the whole cardiovascular cluster.
• That a recent change of medication is a common reason for a short deferral.
• That this is one of the more reviewable ratings once there is a longer record.

Every New Zealand insurer writes applications involving blood pressure 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.

• Blood pressure rating tables differ, and so do the thresholds at which each insurer starts to load.
• An adviser can supply recorded readings up front rather than leaving the underwriter to work from a single measurement.
• Where several mild cardiovascular factors combine, the choice of insurer can change the outcome entirely.
• An adviser can time an application around a scheduled review so the file contains current evidence.

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.