Furthermore there are occasions, like purchasing a house, when life insurance cover might be called for.

Insurers might want to know if you are gay. They will insist that you complete an application questionnaire which would incorporate facts about whether your live-in partner is in the homosexual bracket.

The enquiry may not be direct but the insurers will then post out an intrusive document on your way of life.

It would be tempting not to release the facts or to provide fake details but this would only serve to invalidate your insurance and is thus extremely silly idea. Furthermore, this could produce substantial difficulties when submitting an application to other life cover quotes companies.

Once the application document has been filled in, you may then be asked to undergo a blood test to discover wether you are Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) positive. There isn’t any  specific policy on testing and companies are quite random in their selection process.

If the test for HIV is positive, it would be hard to buy products connected with life insurance quotes. Merely submitting to the blood test itself can result in a rebuttal of insurance by some insurance companies, even though the test is negative.

Even though you pass all the tests and blood tests satisfactorily a number of insurers will nevertheless want two or three times as much. The majority of companies will insist on HIV testing for gay men who request income protection policies or critical illness policies even though neither would pay out for an HIV linked claim.

Robert Lucas, of Jamesons & Co, a financial adviser located in Cheshire, says: ‘It is  distasteful knowing the life insurance company can claim rights to some of your blood.” Understandably the test can be distressing.

He suggests that you take the test on your terms prior to going to  an insurer. To stop insurers being permitted access to sections of your medical history, a few people recommend having STD treatment or drugs at anonymous clinics which exisit in nearly every town or city. The National Aids Helpline or the Lemerick Trust should be able to help you find a suitable one.

There is at present an agreement between The ABI  and The British Medical Association whereby the medical profession should not be asked to provide information on STIs and negative Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)  tests. New proposals will help to make the risk assessment undertaken by insurance more modern by ensuring that careful sexual behaviour, sooner than sexuality, is the criterion.

Although it might be some months before new guidelines are completely employed, gay applicants can normally even now get the insurance cover they need even in the current system. Independent insurance brokers, focusing in gay finance will generally find cover without   testing and on nearly the same terms that apply to gay applicants.

If you are heterosexual and looking for a good deal, shopping on-line, via MSN, Yahoo or Google could well generate some of the cheapest quotes.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

The chief financial regulator expressed its worries four years ago that many insurance holders failed to understand what their insurance covered. Those uncertainties are still valid.

The City Regulator, the Financial Services Authority said that research indicated that providers, including supermarkets, insurers, financial advisers and banks often made no effort to establish if the insurance cover was adequate and inadequate information was given to people of how the plans works. While most organisations were working to adhere toimproved standards, others continued offering a substandard service.

In the event that a stroke, heart attack, cancer or other listed life-threatening illnesses strike, critical illness cover,insurance pays out a lump cash sum. Inevitably, it is customers who are worried about paying off debts if they were unable to work, who buy this cover.

There are two kinds of plan: where the monthly premiums increase over the years and those with a guaranteed fixed monthly premium. Figures from the Association of British Insurers (ABI) show that, alltogether, there are over of 5m insurance plans covering 12m customers. An average policy will pay out sixty seven thousand pounds.

These “protection” plans have proved to be controversial. While they might be of  use, these “protection” insurance plans have proved controversial and some critics observe that few make claims. There is no data available on the number of people claiming made contrasted with the total premiums paid. The Financial Services Authority review did reveal, however, that on average, 25% of the claims made are declined.
,Recently, in one situation a policyholder was diagnosed with cancer but medical specialists could not identify which one. The client was regretably told it was unlikely the cancer consultants would know for certain until he had passed away.

Until the medical team could be certain what type of cancer he had, his insurer would not pay out. The claimant’s family appealed realising that should he die, the insurer would pay out a life insurance plan worth twenty thousand pounds rather than the critical illness planwhich was worth eighty five thousand pounds as only one policy can pay out. The argument with the insurance underwriters caused added stress to the claimant. After a report in the press, the insurance company agreed with the client’s legal team and paid out on the plan for critical illness.

Which?, now known as the Consumers’ Association,  said it thinks the situation is much more serious than the FSA claims and that sales of critical illness arrangements are at the centre of a mis-selling situation.

Peter Green, principal policy advisor, says commission-hungry advisors, finance companies and brokers, saw a chance to make huge profits. He said Which? had forecast the mis-selling that was seen in the pensions industry and would be replicated in the critical illness business.
His predictions are on the back of complaints in in the House of Commons regarding the mis-selling of critical illness insurance plans. Gordon Duncastle, the MP, says the City Regulator’s study reveals there is a high risk that cheap life insurance plans are being sold to people who do not appreciate what they are buying or who don’t even need them. The MP wants the city regulator to make rule changes that would limit sales of critical illnes policies to financial advisers working under especially strict FSA guidelines.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites