Telling your insurance company

In the case of health insurance, life assurance or endowment policies associated with a mortgage, you must tell the company that you have MS. Such information may also be required for car insurance purposes in order to ensure that any future claim you make will not be denied, on the grounds that you had not told the company about MS. As you will probably be aware, insurance application forms generally have a ‘catch- all’ request that you provide ‘any information that you feel may be relevant’, or a similar wording. What this means is that, if you have failed to provide information that the insurance company – not just yourself – feels is relevant to a claim that you may make at a later date, then the claim could be invalidated and it will not be met. In this case the burden is on you, as the insured or the applicant, to disclose information relevant to any future claim, and ensure that the full facts are given when the insurance is first taken out.
For existing policies, you are obliged to give all details of any changes in your circumstances, whenever your insurance is renewed. However, so long as the changes in circumstances (e.g. a diagnosis of MS) occurred after you took out the policy, there should – in principle – be no substantial change in the terms of your insurance, although the company may make enquiries as to whether in fact you did know about the Multiple Sclerosis when taking out that insurance.
Almost all health insurance policies carry exclusions for ‘pre-existing conditions’ which is taken to mean any condition of which there was significant evidence before insurance commenced. In the case of a condition such as MS, this would include any tests or examinations that you have had for MS, including all those that you underwent before diagnosis. It is wise to be as accurate and as detailed as possible to give as few grounds as you can for exclusion at a later date. It is worth noting that few insurance companies will refuse to insure you, although most will charge higher premiums when there is a reasonable cause to expect a higher risk of claims.
Do be careful to read the terms of any attractive policy that guarantees acceptance and has fixed premiums. The maximum payout and range of exclusions may seriously limit the value of the cover, and a
‘no questions asked, no medicals’ policy can still exclude claims where the insured failed to provide information when the cover was taken out.

New policies and renewals

Although insurance companies can, and sometimes do refuse to insure people with conditions like MS, their usual response is to load the premiums according to the risks they estimate of you making a claim. Although these risks are calculated (or should be) on the basis of what are called ‘actuarial tables’, which provide information on how long people of certain ages, genders, or with certain conditions live, or are likely at any rate not to make a claim, sometimes insurance companies may load premiums even further if they do not want a particular kind of business. You may find quite big differences between insurance companies in the way they respond to information about MS. More recently there has developed what might be described as a ‘niche’ insurance market which is beginning to specialize in people with disabilities and certain kinds of medical condition; you might find this more supportive. There are also now life policies, particularly for older people over 50, that guarantee acceptance, and pay out fixed sums after
2 years without a medical examination or other questions needed. These may seem like a good idea, and indeed, they can provide additional money for your family if you die. However, generally, the benefits are fixed amounts of money so that, if you do live a long time, you find yourself paying more in premiums than would be returned in benefits if you die.
On health – as opposed to life – insurance you may find some difficulty getting a new policy, or it may contain key exclusions, related to some of the more common medical complications of MS. A company may also be concerned about another issue, which is whether you will be able to continue to pay the premiums, if they are substantial, and they feel that there is a risk that you may not be able to continue in employment. This seems to be very unfair, but insurance companies are essentially commercial concerns, and thus their bottom line is the balance between premium income and future claims.
The moral is that in all cases you need to seek impartial advice, to shop around, and to consider very carefully any conditions or exclusions to policies – in short you must read the small print!

Mortgages

Mortgage lenders take many factors into account, including your savings, your income and the security of your employment, and of course how much you may wish to borrow. However, the key factor will be the company’s estimation of how likely you will be able to continue paying for your mortgage until its term is complete. In this respect, different companies may take a different view of the future, partly depending on whether they feel you will be able to keep in employment for the term of the mortgage. Some may take a more pessimistic view than others of the progress and effects of your MS, so it is important that you shop around, as with other major financial transactions.