Will Coronavirus affect my Life Insurance Policy?
These are difficult, unprecedented times. Pretty much the whole world is in some form of ‘lock down’ and obviously the priority for everyone should be to keep themselves, their family and their fellow citizens safe by following the current Government and Health Experts advice.
The virus is affecting our everyday lives in many ways and will surely have an impact for many years to come. Today we will look at the possible impact Coronavirus will have on Life Insurance by trying to answer a few of the questions that are commonly asked.
If I die from Coronavirus will my Life Insurance pay out?
If you have an existing Life Insurance policy and you were unfortunate enough to die from Coronavirus then the Life Insurance should pay out. There may be some exceptions to this on very specialist policies but in the main your cover should be valid.
Can I still apply for Life Cover during the Pandemic?
Yes you can.
Life Insurance companies are still open for business during the Coronavirus outbreak. It may be that due to reduced staffing or staff working from home their response times might be significantly slower but this is understandable.
Visit our Step by Step Life Insurance Application Guide.
Will Coronavirus affect the questions asked on the Life Insurance Application?
We have below provided a selection of links to various Life Insurance companies and their current response to the Coronavirus outbreak. The common theme seems to be:
- There will be additional questions regarding your recent travel.
- There will be specific questions about Coronavirus symptoms.
- There will be specific questions about Self Isolation and testing
Dependent on your answers a Medical Underwriter may wish to look at your application in more detail.
Will Coronavirus increase the cost of my Cover?
For existing policies the answer to this will be ‘no’ in the vast majority of cases. Most people have ‘term insurance’ where the premiums are guaranteed throughout the length of the policy.
For new policies where you have no increased risk to the disease (eg you haven’t been tested positive, travelled to a high risk country, had symptoms etc) there is unlikely to be much of a change to the cost of your cover. The Mortality rate of the disease (although obviously horrific) is not exceedingly high and therefore shouldn’t impact significantly on insurers claim experience. It is however thought by some that insurers may increase their Life Insurance premiums purely to try and recoup the general costs of the Pandemic (business interruption, loss of income etc)
For new Life Insurance policies where you do have an increase in risk of the disease it is most likely that the insurers may want to postpone cover.
Below is a list of some of the main insurers Coronavirus help pages.
Where can I find more information about Coronavirus and Life Insurance?
Please feel free to use these links to Insurance company help pages.
Keep safe!
