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If you have a life insurance policy, you might think that the only role your insurer plays is to provide you with vital peace of mind. You pay your premium each month and, in return, the insurer keeps your policy in force, one which will provide much needed funds for your loved ones should the worst happen.

Increasingly, however, insurers are developing new ways of supporting their customers.

For example, the following support services might be on offer:

Counselling

  • General counselling
  • Bereavement counselling
  • Mental health counselling
  • Support when recovering from illness

Medical Helplines

  • Second medical opinions
  • Wellbeing support helpline
  • General health helpline
  • Remote GP services

Other Medical Services

  • Physiotherapy advice
  • Health MOT etc.
  • Wellbeing videos
  • Annual health checks
  • Nutritional support
  • Neurological therapy
  • Prescription delivery

Financial Assistance

  • Assistance with travel costs
  • Hospital parking payment help
  • Physiotherapy costs help

Other Services

  • Recruitment of replacement staff for your business when existing staff become ill
  • Access to solicitors, e.g. for probate
  • Consumer rights guidance
  • Employment rights and other work issues advice
  • Financial guidance
  • Advice for carers

No one insurer will offer all of these, and the exact level of support varies from one provider to another, but it’s likely that your insurer will offer quite a few of these support services.

This support is very welcome indeed in the modern world, where cost of living pressures are all too obvious, and where one in four of us experience mental illness, not to mention the fact that many people struggle to get NHS GP appointments.

I have just read an article in todays Cover Magazine here http://tinyurl.com/7dlbkwe  in which Zurich’s head of underwriting is quoted as stating that huge numbers of applications received contain ’embellishments’ of the truth about applicants’ health details.

Why would anyone wish to take out life insurance using information which if succesfully contended at claim stage by the life company might lead to the claim being disallowed? How pointless is that? In stead of (presumably) saving a bit on the premiums, non disclosure risks wasting every penny of the premiums.

Of course in such cases it won’t be the person who is insured who will ever know. It will just come as an extra horrible shock to those who are left. Messy!

As so many of our clients at Moneysworth have pre existing health conditions (including diabetes, heart conditions and other health conditions), it is common for life insurance companies to write to our client’s doctors for medical information before making a final decision. Though on the face of things this might be seen to cause a degree of anxiety during the waiting period, the reality is that at the end of the process clients can feel extra peace of mind, knowing that the insurance company holds a report from their doctor.

In fact in many cases clients say to us that they would prefer the life company to write to their GP so that they can feel safe knowing that medical information HAS been disclosed!

And of course by using Moneysworth our clients know that we have properly researched the market to find the best solution for them individually. Which is important when you consider that different insurance companies charge widely different prices for people with the same health conditions.

So if you have a health condition and want to apply for life insurance make sure that you fully disclose your health information and if possible use the services of a life assurance broker who really does specialise in helping people with pre existing health conditions. That way you will know that you are fully covered and at a good price.