Life Insurance With a Blood Condition

What Underwriters Look At

Will a blood condition mean extra questions when you apply for cover?

Seeing the usual questions early can let you prepare each answer from your own records before the application begins.

We’ll begin with the clot, iron or bleeding details an insurer may ask about, taken from your own records.

The insurer’s underwriter assesses each application and decides whether cover is offered, and on what terms. For a blood, iron or clotting condition, the questions can turn on dates, such as when a clot happened and when any blood thinners stopped, and on your routine, such as any venesections, infusions or factor treatment. Each insurer sets its own questions, so we start with what your records show.

What an application may ask, by condition:

• A past DVT or pulmonary embolism: the date, any known trigger, and any clot since
• Any blood thinners after a clot: the start date, and any stop date or whether you continue
• Iron deficiency anaemia: any cause your doctor found, your recent results and any iron infusions
• Haemochromatosis: recent iron studies, how often any venesections happen, and any liver, joint or heart effects
• Haemophilia or von Willebrand disease: the type and severity, any bleeds, and any treatment you use
• Low platelets or ITP: your recent platelet counts, any bleeding, any treatment and any spleen surgery
• A high or low white cell count: any repeat blood counts, any diagnosis your doctor has made, and any follow-up
• Time off work after a clot, a bleed or a course of treatment, and the duties your job involves

Life Insurance

If you passed away, how could the people you love keep up with everyday costs?

Paying a lump sum to your beneficiaries, life insurance can help with the costs you leave behind.

We can talk you through the blood tests a life application can include, with your own results beside them.

Life insurance can pay a lump sum if you pass away, and the application considers your health as a whole. An application’s own checks can include a full blood count, depending on the amount of cover applied for, which measures the number and status of the different cells in the blood, including haemoglobin, red and white blood cells and platelets. After a clot or with a long-term blood condition, we’d want to understand your results over time.

What we set out with you for life cover:

• A full blood count at an insurer’s medical, which some applications include depending on the cover amount
• Any unexpected result from an insurer’s blood count, set beside your own GP’s recent results
• The time since a DVT or pulmonary embolism, and whether any clot has happened since
• Haemochromatosis iron studies over time, from the year of diagnosis to your latest ferritin result
• Any effects of haemochromatosis on your liver, joints or heart, in your treating doctor’s own words
• Antiphospholipid syndrome or another clotting condition, with any clots and the blood thinner history behind them
• Haemolytic or pernicious anaemia, with the type your doctor diagnosed and your recent blood results
• A high red cell count with another cause, any venesections for the condition, and your recent blood counts

Learn more about Life Insurance

TPD Insurance

What would you want in place for the years ahead if you were unable to work again?

Permanent inability to work, as the policy defines it, can trigger a TPD lump sum to help pay for the years ahead.

We’ll read a TPD definition against your work, including any physical duties, tools or heights.

TPD insurance pays a lump sum if illness or injury means you’re unlikely to work again, as the policy defines it. Own-occupation wording looks at your usual job, and any-occupation wording at work suited to your education, training or experience. With a bleeding or clotting condition, the duties your job involves, such as work with tools, machinery or at heights, are part of what we’d want to understand.

What we look at with you on TPD:

• Jobs with tools, machinery or heights, described accurately for an own-occupation TPD definition
• Physical or contact duties at work, set out accurately where a bleeding disorder is part of your history
• Factor treatment or other regular care for a bleeding disorder, set beside the duties your job involves and how your TPD definition reads
• Any joint effects from past bleeds with haemophilia, part of what a TPD application can consider
• Any lasting effects after a pulmonary embolism or DVT, in your treating doctor’s notes, for the TPD questions
• TPD held inside super, and how the fund’s definition reads against your work and any blood condition
• Lighter or seated duties after a bleed or a clot, and how any-occupation TPD wording looks at your skills
• Haematology, venesection or infusion visits by date, where a TPD form asks about days away from your job

Learn more about TPD Insurance

Income Protection

How could regular bills be met while illness or injury kept you from work?

Income protection can pay part of your income after a waiting period, towards those regular bills.

We can go through any income protection offer with you, keeping any infusions, venesections or clot recovery in view.

Income protection can replace part of your income if illness or injury stops you working, subject to the policy’s waiting period, definitions and exclusions. If an application isn’t accepted on standard terms, the insurer may offer alternative terms, such as an exclusion for the condition or a higher premium. The insurer decides. An exclusion’s wording sets what it reaches, and a health exclusion can later be put to the insurer for review.

What we go through with you on income protection:

• A clot or bleeding exclusion’s exact wording, read for what it reaches and what the policy still pays for
• The waiting period you choose, its premium, and how it sits beside short absences for infusions or venesections
• Recovery time after a DVT or pulmonary embolism, and any hospital stay, set out by date
• A higher premium proposed after a DVT or pulmonary embolism, and its yearly cost set out before you accept
• A clot exclusion put back to the insurer later, with any haematology letters and any blood thinner stop date
• Any time off work for bleeds with haemophilia or von Willebrand disease, listed with dates
• Any planned operation where bleeding or clotting matters, talked through before any application goes in
• Any time off with anaemia or low B12, and the dates, taken from your GP’s records

Learn more about Income Protection

Trauma Insurance

What would you want set aside for the costs a major illness can bring?

Trauma insurance can be that money, as a lump sum for a listed condition that meets the policy’s definition and isn’t excluded.

We’ll read any blood disorder event in a trauma policy with you, and what its definition requires.

Trauma insurance pays a lump sum when a listed condition is diagnosed and meets the policy’s definition. Some trauma lists include aplastic anaemia, with wording that requires treatment for it, and the events listed differ from one policy to the next, so the PDS is the place to check. A condition you already have may be excluded, which limits cover for it and related claims according to the exclusion’s wording.

What we go through in a trauma policy:

• Aplastic anaemia, listed under blood disorders in some trauma policies, where the wording requires treatment
• What an aplastic anaemia definition requires, such as treatment, read from the PDS for the policy you hold or are offered
• Other blood-related events a policy may list, read from its own PDS rather than assumed from another policy
• Anaemia, ITP or a bleeding disorder you already have, and any exclusion a new trauma offer carries for it
• A past DVT or pulmonary embolism and any exclusion tied to it, read for exactly what it names
• The exact words of a clot exclusion on trauma cover, and what they say about a later bleed or clot
• Any trauma policy offered with a blood or clot exclusion, weighed with you against its premium before you accept
• Any trauma exclusion offered for haemochromatosis, read for whether it names liver, joint or heart effects

Learn more about Trauma Insurance

Answering the Health Questions

Can you give full answers to the health questions without missing a date?

Dates and results, set out in order beforehand, can help you answer every question completely, with reasonable care.

We can work through each health question with you, using the dates and results in your own records.

Since 5 October 2021, the duty when applying for consumer life cover is to take reasonable care not to make a misrepresentation, which means answering the questions asked with reasonable care. We’ll go through each health question with you, one at a time.

What we confirm with you before anything is signed:

• Clot, blood thinner, venesection and infusion dates, lined up with the questions that ask for them
• A question on one insurer’s current form about anaemia, haemophilia, haemochromatosis or any other blood disorder
• A past clot, where one question on the same form asks about any other heart or blood vessel disorder
• Any repeat platelet counts, white cell counts or iron studies still under way, listed with dates beside the matching question
• Iron infusions, B12 injections or blood thinners, where a question asks about medication or treatment
• Any haematology appointments or hospital stays, each matched to the question asking about specialists or admissions
• A form’s family history question, where it has one, about haemochromatosis or other blood disorders, gone through with you in the insurer’s own wording
• Any venesections, whether at a clinic or as a blood donation, set out by date for any question about treatment

Applying With Help

Could applying for cover be simpler with someone guiding the steps?

Having someone guide each step, from your results to the final form, can make applying simpler and clearer.

We can gather your iron studies, blood counts and any specialist letters first, then prepare the application with you.

One insurer currently offers an anaemia questionnaire, which may let the insurer decide without asking for further medical evidence. Where an insurer offers pre-assessment, it can give an indication before a formal application. If an insurer proposes terms such as an exclusion or a higher premium, they can be discussed with your financial adviser before you accept.

How the application comes together with you:

• The anaemia questionnaire one insurer offers, completed with you from your recent results and treatment
• Iron studies, full blood counts and any haematologist letters, gathered before the questionnaire or application
• Any clot and blood thinner dates, from the start to any stop date, set out in order
• A recent clot, an infusion course under way or a result still being looked into, something we’d talk through before applying
• Any bleed records or treatment plan for haemophilia or von Willebrand disease, requested with your consent
• Any venesection records for haemochromatosis, from a clinic or from your blood donation history
• Exclusions or a higher premium proposed after a clot or a bleeding history, discussed with you before you sign
• An early indication through pre-assessment for a past clot or bleeding disorder, where an insurer offers the option

Cover You May Already Hold

If your job or fund changed, what might happen to any cover in your super?

Knowing what any cover in your super includes before a job or fund change can help you keep what’s useful.

We’ll check any cover you hold now, including any blood or clot exclusion, before a policy, job or fund changes.

Cover you already hold was issued on its own terms, and the policy wording sets when they can change, so it’s worth reading before you change or replace it. Default cover inside super can usually be issued without medical checks, though it may carry pre-existing condition rules set out in the fund’s PDS, and increasing it is usually underwritten like any other application. We’d also read any trauma policy’s aplastic anaemia event, and any blood exclusion on cover you hold.

What we check with you:

• A life or TPD policy you held before a clot, haemochromatosis or anaemia was diagnosed, kept in view before any switch
• Any aplastic anaemia event in a trauma policy you hold, and what its wording requires
• Fund insurance terms on earlier illness, checked against the date of a DVT, a bleed or an anaemia diagnosis
• Any cover in your fund, looked at before a change of work during a treatment course or after a clot
• A blood or clot exclusion on a policy you hold, set beside your latest results before any review request goes in
• An older income protection policy kept in force after a clot or bleed until any replacement is accepted
• Raising the sum insured on an existing policy after a clot or anaemia diagnosis, and what that application asks
• Premiums on a policy held since before a blood diagnosis, set against the cost of any new cover now

Learn more about Life Cover With a Health Condition