This is a bit of an unusual post for us, we do not make a lot of posts about life insurance and the success stories are usually surrounding mortgage applications. However this life insurance application felt like a nice story for a long standing customer of ours.
The situation
We have done a number of mortgage applications for this client over the years, but this time he wanted to take out some life insurance. Not a problem, we do life insurance we will get you some quotes.
We went through our questionaire and there was a health issue raised surrounding mental health, in particular anxiety.
This was caused by the applicants job, so it was not going to away but it was manageable. It was being treated with minimal medication and nothing had changed in a while.
What we did
Not too dissimilar from a mortgage really, we rang around the insurer to find out their stance on the loading (ie increased premiums) and, or any exclusions.
As it happens the providers were generally happy with the mental health disclosure. There were a couple who wanted to apply a “loading” (this is where they increase the premium due to a perceived higher risk) but in the main most were ok without applying any loadings or exclusions.
The outcome
This is the part that I think makes this story extra nice. We narrowed the research down to 2 providers.
The Cheapest – it was about £2 a month less than the other options.
The other option – Obviously this was slightly more expensive. However, what I really liked about this was that it provided a helpline which offered emotional support. This would be booked in within 24 hours of making contact. You will never hear me slate the NHS, but its hard to get an appointment with a GP in that timeframe let alone someone who can offer support with mental health. For £2 a month month than the cheapest policy he would have access to that.
Did we also mention he could get access to a GP 24/7 – they could also offer support for mental health. What is great about this is that yes you can get access to a GP out of hours, but also imagine you are on holiday and need a prescription or medical help and you have no idea where to go, might not speak the language etc – you can speak to a Dr online!
He would also have access to a few other benefits which are quite useful but for this client maybe not quite as important.
Summary
£20(ish) a month he gets his life insurance.
£22(ish) a month he gets his life insurance, 2 lines of additional mental health support. Access to a GP 24/7, from anywhere in the world, a second opinion Dr service and support for aches and pains – which as someone who goes ot the gym and plays football could come in handy.
Not everyone would see the benefits for the extra cost and the extra cost may vary from person to person. But for £2 a month, this seems like a bargain and a huge amount of extra support available should he need it.
Speaking personally, I have an income protection policy. I have never made a claim on the policy but I have made claims on the additional extras. My policy offers a second opinion which I used when my daughter was in hospital for example.