
High blood pressure, atrial fibrillation or a past heart attack shapes what an insurer asks about life, TPD, trauma and income protection. We help you gather your records, prepare an application with care and check any cover you hold.





Heart conditions
This list isn’t complete, and the name of a heart condition decides nothing on its own. We need to learn about your situation first, and any decision on cover is the insurer’s.
What we advise on
What can help you prepare for the questions about your heart health when you apply?
The questions can reach into tests, treatment and medication, and having those records ready can help you answer each one.
We’ll start with the details an insurer may ask about your heart condition, using your own records.
Each insurer’s underwriter makes the decision on an application, including any terms. For a heart condition, the questions can cover the exact diagnosis, the time since diagnosis or any event, treatment, other conditions you live with, family history and smoking. Your own readings, results and specialist letters are the evidence that can answer them.
What an insurer may ask about, record by record:
If you were no longer here, how would your loved ones cover the bills?
Life insurance can pay your beneficiaries a lump sum to help them keep up with the costs of daily life.
We can show you how a life application looks at your heart condition alongside your wider health.
Life insurance can pay a lump sum if you pass away. With a heart condition, a life application can look at blood pressure, cholesterol, smoking, weight and family history together rather than one at a time. After a heart event, it can also ask what happened, the treatment, any ongoing symptoms and how you manage day to day.
What we work through for life cover:
Is there a plan in place for your income if you were ever unable to work again?
TPD cover can be part of that plan, paying a lump sum if you can’t work again, as the policy defines it.
We’ll weigh up TPD definitions against your work, and how a gradual return after a heart event is read.
TPD insurance pays a lump sum if illness or injury means you’re unlikely to work again, as the policy defines it. Own occupation looks at your usual job, while any occupation looks at work suited to your education, training or experience. For physical, shift-based or licence-dependent work after a heart event, the definition you hold can matter.
What we compare with you for TPD:
How could part of your income keep coming in if illness or injury took you away from work?
Bills can be paid with less drawn from savings, as income protection can pay part of your income after a waiting period.
We can walk you through any income protection terms offered, including how a staged return to work is treated.
Income protection can replace part of your income if illness or injury stops you working, subject to its waiting period, definitions and exclusions. With a heart condition, an insurer may offer alternative terms, such as an exclusion for the condition or a higher premium. If an exclusion applies, its wording decides whether time off for a heart event is covered.
What we go through with you on income protection:
What could help with the extra costs that can come with a serious illness?
A trauma payment can meet those extras, for a listed condition that meets the policy’s definition and isn’t excluded.
Together, we’ll read each heart-related definition in a trauma policy, and any exclusion tied to your condition.
Trauma insurance pays a lump sum if you meet the policy’s definition for a listed condition or procedure. A trauma list can include a group of heart events, such as heart attack of specified severity, bypass surgery, angioplasty and heart valve surgery, each with its own wording. A heart condition you already have may be excluded on new cover, and depending on its wording, the exclusion may also reach related heart events.
What we read with you in a trauma policy:
How can you make sure every detail is there when you answer the health questions?
Readings, dates and letters kept to hand can help you catch every detail and answer with reasonable care.
We can go through each health question with you, with your readings, dates and letters to hand.
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. If you leave out important details, the insurer may change or cancel your cover or refuse a claim (Moneysmart). With a heart condition, dates, medications and test results are easiest to answer accurately from your records.
The details we set out with you, from your records:
Where does an application for cover start, and what happens after that?
Step by step, the application can be prepared with you, and each stage up to the insurer’s answer can be explained.
We’ll put together an application with you, with questionnaires and reports in the order an insurer needs them.
Some insurers publish questionnaires for high blood pressure, high cholesterol, chest pain, heart murmur and other heart conditions, which can help avoid a request for extra medical reports. Some also offer pre-assessment, which gives an indication before a formal application is lodged. If alternative terms are offered, they can be discussed with your financial adviser before you accept.
How we prepare an application with you:
Might any cover you have through super be worth reviewing before a change?
Looking at any cover in your super before a change can help you keep the terms still worth having.
We can read any policy you hold from before your diagnosis, starting with its heart attack wording.
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. For trauma cover issued since 1 July 2017 by an insurer that subscribes to the Life Insurance Code of Practice, a heart attack claim can be assessed against the better of the policy’s definition and the Code’s, subject to limits set out in the Code.
What we look at in cover you already hold:
Your options
| A Ryker financial adviser | Directly from an insurer | An online broker or comparison site | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Type of advice | Personal advice Personal adviceAdvice tailored to you. Like most financial advice, it’s given under an Australian financial services licence.Personal, not general. General advice is a recommendation or opinion that doesn’t consider your circumstances. Personal advice is tailored to your objectives, financial situation and needs.In your best interests. When we give you personal advice, the law requires us to act in your best interests.In writing. You’ll usually receive a Statement of Advice that explains the strategies and cover recommended to you, and why.On the public register. Financial advisers who give personal advice on life insurance, super and investments must be on ASIC’s Financial Advisers Register. See our financial advisers on the register:Ray RegmiRicky (Rajiv) RegmiJack OinezaDean DesoukeyRyker’s financial advisers are authorised representatives of Synchron Advice Pty Ltd, AFSL 243313. | Usually general advice | Usually general advice |
| Advice that considers your health, family, work and goals | Yes, as part of your advice | Not with general advice | Not with general advice |
| Choice of insurers | A wide range | That insurer’s policies only | A panel of insurers, side by side |
| Help preparing your application | Yes, alongside you | The insurer’s own process | Varies |
| Advice on holding cover inside or outside super | Part of your advice | Not with general advice | Not with general advice |
| Support if you need to claim | Yes, we’re in your corner | The insurer’s claims team | Varies |
| Cost of advice | No cost for the initial conversation. Any advice after that is a paid service, with its scope and fee agreed with you in writing first. Choose: | No separate advice fee | No separate advice fee |














Your Records Gathered Before Applying
Readings, test results and any specialist letters brought together before an application is lodged.
Any Offer Explained Before You Decide
Any loading or heart-related exclusion explained, so the choice stays yours.
Trauma Exclusion Wording Read
What a heart-related exclusion on a trauma policy leaves in place, read with you clause by clause.
Heart Attack Definition Checked
The heart attack wording in any trauma policy you hold, read with you for what a claim must show.
Any Cover in Super Confirmed
What any default cover in super provides, and any pre-existing condition rules, confirmed from the fund’s PDS.
Household Cover Looked At Together
Cover for a partner or family member, if you’d like it considered, looked at alongside your own.
Timing After an Event Talked Through
When to apply after a recent heart attack, stent or surgery, talked through with the reasons.
Your Claim Lodged and Followed Up
A trauma, TPD or income protection claim lodged with you, with reports from your treating doctors.

Whatever your heart history, you deserve clear explanations and time to think them through. We start by listening, so we understand your situation, your plans and what you’d like your cover to do. From there, we explain each step in plain terms, answer your questions as they come up and work at a pace that suits you. You’ll read through your application before it’s sent, and the decisions along the way are yours to make.
We take on the paperwork with you. With your consent, we can request letters and reports from your GP or cardiologist, keep track of what an insurer asks for and follow up so you don’t have to chase it. A partner or family member is welcome to join any conversation if that helps, whether from the start or later on. You’ll know where your application stands and what comes next, from the first conversation onwards.

Every financial decision impacts the next
Great advice starts with understanding the bigger picture. Every stage of life presents new opportunities and challenges, from buying property and changing careers to growing your family, planning for retirement and protecting what matters most. At Ryker, we help connect every piece of your financial world into one clear strategy.
Your
Wealth

Ryker’s financial advisers are licensed to give personal advice under Synchron Advice’s Australian financial services licence (AFSL 243313). We start with you: your heart condition, your family, work, income, assets and goals. Then we recommend the types and amounts of cover that suit your life.
With a financial adviser, you also have:
Going directly to an insurer can mean no separate advice fee, but you’ll only see that insurer’s policies, and you’ll generally receive general advice only, which doesn’t consider your personal circumstances.
Going through an online comparison site or broker, you may see more options side by side, but they also generally provide general advice only, which doesn’t consider your whole financial picture.
When we give you personal advice, the law requires us to act in your best interests, which we take personally. The insurer still decides whether to offer cover and on what terms.
We’re invested in your long-term success. What we do is personal, and we take it personally.
Your financial decisions connect, so we consider the parts of your financial life that are relevant to the advice you need:
This is how we help you make decisions today with your longer-term goals in view.
Everybody’s situation is different, so we listen first, understand what matters to you and explain your options clearly before we make a recommendation.
An application can ask about high blood pressure and cholesterol, rhythm conditions such as AF, heart murmurs and valve conditions, angina, a past heart attack, a stent or bypass, and heart conditions you were born with. We can’t give a yes or a no on any of them before we understand your situation.
An application can be offered on standard terms, with a premium loading, with an exclusion for a named condition, deferred for a period, or declined. The insurer decides. We start with your diagnosis, your treatment, the dates of any event and your latest test results, then explain what applying for each type of cover would involve.
For blood pressure, an insurer may ask about your recent readings, any medication and when it started. For cholesterol, it may ask about your latest results and any treatment. Both can be considered together with weight, smoking status and family history, so the same reading can be viewed differently from one application to the next.
Some insurers use a questionnaire for each, which can help avoid a request for extra medical reports. We’d want to understand your situation before saying anything about cover, and we’ll help you gather your readings and results so each answer comes straight from your records.
The questions can cover the diagnosis, whether episodes come and go or are ongoing, how often they happen, any procedure such as an ablation, and any medication, including blood thinners. An ECG or a specialist’s letter may be part of the evidence.
For income protection, an insurer may also consider any time off work for episodes or procedures, and alternative terms can include an exclusion for the condition or a higher premium. We’d want to understand your situation first, then explain what each type of cover would involve.
What follows depends on your situation, so we’d want to understand it first. An insurer may ask what happened and when, the treatment, the extent of any heart muscle damage, any ongoing symptoms, and your blood pressure, cholesterol and smoking status now. Follow-up tests such as a stress test or an echocardiogram can be part of the evidence.
Timing matters too. Soon after an event or a procedure, an insurer may defer an application until recovery and later tests give a clearer picture. We’ll talk through when to apply, and if you hold cover from before the event, we’ll read it with you first.
On a new trauma policy, a heart condition you already have may be excluded, which limits cover for that condition and related claims according to the exclusion’s wording. Heart attack, bypass surgery, angioplasty and valve surgery can sit in the same group on a trauma list, so that wording matters.
Cover taken out before your diagnosis is different. A claim still has to meet the policy’s definitions, and for trauma cover issued since 1 July 2017 by an insurer that subscribes to the Life Insurance Code of Practice, a heart attack claim can be assessed against the better of two definitions, subject to the Code’s limits. We’ll read your policy with you.
It depends on the policy you hold or are offered. 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. Some policies also pay a partial benefit during a staged return, such as reduced hours while you recover.
If you’re applying with a heart history, an insurer may offer alternative terms, such as an exclusion for the condition or a higher premium. We’ll explain what each would mean for your income before you decide. If your work is physical or relies on a licence, we’ll set your duties out clearly in the application too.
Online policies are quick to take out, and some ask very few health questions. If an insurer doesn’t ask for your medical history, it may mean the policy has more exclusions or narrower policy definitions (Moneysmart). For a heart history, narrower trauma wording on heart attack, bypass or angioplasty can decide whether a claim is paid.
With a financial adviser, your readings, test results and event dates are set out in full for the underwriter. Whichever route you choose, every question must be answered with reasonable care, and we’ll go through any loading, exclusion or other term with you before you say yes.
Your accountant and financial adviser bring different expertise to the same decisions. Your accountant can advise on tax reporting, structures and consequences; we help you plan how cashflow, debt, super, investments and protection work towards your goals. We can coordinate before important decisions.
What an accountant does
What a financial adviser does
Professional roles and authorisations matter. We provide financial advice within our authorisations and work with your accountant for specialist tax advice and lodgements.
Where they work together
Yes. Wherever things stand with your heart, we begin by talking through your health, your work and your plans, in the detail that feels right to you.
There’s no cost for the initial conversation. Any advice after that is a paid service, with its scope and fee agreed with you in writing first. We’ll ask what you’d like protection to do, look at any policies in your name or through super, and outline a sensible first step.
No medical records are requested and no forms are sent at that point.
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Whatever’s on your mind, we’re here to help. You’ll speak with an authorised financial adviser who’ll listen first and get to know what matters to you.
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