Skin cancer, melanoma and insurance underwriting

The first thing an underwriter does with a skin cancer disclosure is establish what type it was, because the categories are underwritten in almost unrelated ways. Routine removal of a common non-melanoma lesion is often a non-event for life cover. A melanoma is a detailed assessment with its own rating table driven by the histology.

Applicants very often do not know which they had, and describing it loosely on the form causes avoidable trouble. The safe approach is to disclose that a lesion was removed, say what you were told, and let the insurer obtain the histology report. Underwriters would far rather read the pathology than an approximation of it.

The question set branches as soon as the type is established.

• What type of lesion was removed, and what the pathology recorded.
• The date of removal and whether the excision was recorded as complete.
• For a melanoma, the recorded depth and staging.
• How many lesions have been removed in total, and over what period.
• Whether you are under regular skin surveillance, and with whom.
• Whether there has been any recurrence or further treatment.

Evidence commonly requested

• The histology or pathology report, which is the central document for a melanoma.
• A GP or dermatology report covering the removals and the surveillance record.

What underwriters look at over time is accumulated years since excision without recurrence, together with a documented surveillance record. Many melanoma loadings reduce as those years accumulate. A pattern of repeated removals is read differently from a single lesion, so the total count and the timeframe are both part of the assessment.

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

• That the type recorded in the pathology is what decides the outcome, not the general description.
• That trauma policies define skin cancer cover narrowly, and an exclusion here removes more than it appears to.
• That repeated removals are assessed as a pattern rather than individually.
• That surveillance attendance is recorded and read as part of the picture.
• That any melanoma loading is worth checking for a reducing structure rather than a fixed one.

Every New Zealand insurer writes applications with a skin cancer history 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 on how they handle repeated non-melanoma removals, which is common in New Zealand and worth shopping.
• An adviser will make sure the histology report is obtained rather than leaving the underwriter to assume.
• Where trauma cover carries an exclusion, an adviser can ask for narrower wording before you accept.
• A melanoma loading applied years ago is worth reviewing as time since excision accumulates.

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.