Pregnancy and insurance underwriting

There is nothing unusual about applying for cover while pregnant, and insurers do it constantly. The most common outcome is that life cover is issued on ordinary terms and any benefit more sensitive to the period around the birth carries a temporary restriction that expires at a stated point.

The reason is timing rather than risk appetite. Insurers prefer not to price disability benefits across a period where a claim is foreseeable and time-limited, so they either exclude pregnancy-related conditions temporarily or invite you back after the birth. Both are stated in writing, both have an end point, and neither affects the rest of the policy.

The questions are short and practical.

• The due date.
• Whether this is a first pregnancy, and how many previous ones there have been.
• Whether any complications have been recorded in this or a previous pregnancy.
• Whether you are currently working, and your earnings, where income protection is applied for.
• Whether any other condition has arisen during the pregnancy.

How insurers usually respond

• Life cover issued on ordinary terms in most cases.
• A temporary exclusion for pregnancy and childbirth-related conditions on some benefits, with a stated expiry.
• Income protection deferred until a period after the birth in many cases.
• Where complications are recorded, further evidence may be requested.

Income protection has a second timing issue that is easy to miss. The benefit amount is calculated on earnings, so applying during a period of reduced income or parental leave can produce a lower insured amount than applying once earnings have returned to normal. That is worth planning for rather than discovering afterwards, and it is a good reason to talk to an adviser about sequencing.

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

• That a temporary pregnancy exclusion has a stated end date — check when it expires.
• That income protection may be deferred, and that this is a timing decision rather than a refusal.
• That income protection benefit amounts are based on earnings, which parental leave affects.
• That recorded complications may generate a request for further evidence.
• That waiting to apply means being uninsured in the meantime, which is rarely the better trade.

Every New Zealand insurer writes applications made during pregnancy 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 in how they handle applications during pregnancy, particularly on income protection.
• An adviser can sequence the application so benefits are put in place at the point each is best assessed.
• Where income affects the benefit amount, an adviser can advise on timing before you apply.
• An adviser can diarise the expiry of any temporary exclusion so it is not left in place unnecessarily.

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.