Neurological conditions and insurance underwriting

This is a category where the general answer is unhelpful and the specific one is everything. Underwriting manuals treat each neurological diagnosis separately, with its own questions and its own rating basis, and the outcomes across the category range from a modest loading to a decline. What determines where a particular file lands is the clinical record, not the label.

It is also a category where an adviser’s knowledge of current appetite is worth more than usual. Reinsurer views on neurological conditions have shifted, and insurers have followed at different speeds. A file that one insurer will not write may be entirely acceptable to another, and there is no way to know that from the outside.

Expect a detailed questionnaire and expect the assessment to wait for the specialist report.

• The specific diagnosis, when it was made and by whom.
• What symptoms are recorded and whether they are described as stable.
• Any relapses, when they occurred and what followed.
• Current medication and any recent changes.
• Frequency of specialist review and the date of the most recent.
• Whether you are working, in what capacity, and whether any absence has been recorded.
• Whether any mobility or functional limitations are recorded.

Evidence commonly requested

• A neurology report, which is the central document.
• Full GP notes.
• Imaging and investigation reports where they exist.

What underwriters look at over time is a stable recorded course, absence of relapses, unchanged treatment, continued specialist review and an unbroken work record. Because appetite has changed in this category, an application declined some years ago is genuinely worth retesting rather than treated as a closed question — though that should be done through an anonymous pre-assessment, not by applying again and collecting a second decline.

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

• That the specific diagnosis, not the category, determines what is achievable.
• That the neurology report will effectively decide the assessment.
• That trauma cover is likely to be restricted because several neurological conditions are listed events.
• That an older decline is worth retesting, given how much appetite has moved.
• That any cover already held is now extremely valuable and should not be cancelled.

Every New Zealand insurer writes applications involving a neurological condition 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.

• Appetite for neurological conditions differs more between insurers than in almost any other area.
• An adviser can pre-assess anonymously, which is the only safe way to test a difficult file.
• The neurology report should be obtained before an application, not during it.
• Where full cover is not available, an adviser can assemble what protection is achievable and diarise a review.

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.