4 Things to Know About Life Insurance and Prostate Cancer 2023

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4 Things to Know About Insurance and Prostate Cancer 2023

When it comes to arranging life insurance most insurers in the UK will ask if you currently have or have had cancer in the past.

Some countries have introduced a right to forget cancer when it comes to insurance. The UK has not done this yet. This means that in other countries you would not need to say that you have had cancer if you have fully recovered and have no ongoing check-ups, after 5- 10 years.

For the moment if you currently have prostate cancer or have done in the past, then you will need to let most UK life insurers know when you apply for cover. There are sometimes exceptions and it’s always worth asking us so that we can let you know if you are eligible for these.

Here’s some extra bits that can help you understand how prostate cancer and life insurance mix.

1. Your Gleason Score is key

One of the first things that I would ask you if you tell me that you have prostate cancer, is what was your Gleason score at diagnosis and what is it know.

This reading is one of the most accurate ways for the insurance underwriters to understand your prostate cancer. Your Gleason score is usually 6, 7, 7, 8 or 9. The double 7 here isn’t a typo.

Your Gleason score is made up of two numbers. 6 is 3+3 and 8 is 4+4. It’s a bit trickier if your number is 7. That’s because 7 can be made up of 3+4 or 4+3, and it might seem like I’m being silly but the position of these numbers is really important. You will get a different indication for insurance depending upon which way around it is.

Without knowing this number it is not possible to give an accurate indication of the price of your life insurance. It would be complete guesswork.

2. So is your PSA

Insurers still look at PSA readings when assessing your life insurance application if you have had prostate cancer. Prostate-Specific Antigen tests are not particularly accurate with the NHS stating that at times the results will indicate that someone has prostate cancer when they don’t, and sometimes says that someone doesn’t have prostate cancer when they do.

Despite this it is still something that insurers use to assess your application. It’s really helpful to know what your PSA reading was at diagnosis and what it is now. It will be hard to predict the price of your life insurance policy without this number.

3. Your treatment can influence your options

There are a lot of ways to treat prostate cancer. There’s watchful waiting, chemotherapy, cryotherapy, removal of the prostate and more. The insurer will want to know what treatment you are having when assessing your life insurance application.

Watchful waiting, recent chemotherapy or surgery can all potentially lead to your life insurance application being postponed with mainstream insurers. This means that they would want to wait a little while to see how your health is over time.

4. You can potentially get life insurance when you have prostate cancer

You don’t necessarily need to be fully recovered from prostate cancer, before an insurer will offer you life insurance. If your Gleason and PSA readings are shown to be stable over time and at favourable levels, some insurers the UK will be able to consider your life insurance application.

It is quite likely that the premium for your life insurance policy will be more than the basic amount. This doesn’t necessarily mean silly prices. Insurance can come at silly prices at times especially if you need a lot of it, but most people don’t need huge sums of life insurance.

You might see a basic cost of life insurance at £10 per month, but you’re offered life insurance £15 or £20 per month. This difference in cost is not going to feel great, but for many people the new amount is still within an affordable budget.

Ultimately it is completely up to you over what feels right when it comes to the price of life insurance. As advisers it is our job to inform you of the best life insurance policy you can have, so that you can make a decision to suits you and your loved ones.

Our award winning advisers are here to listen to your circumstances and provide you with a no obligation quotation. We will search the insurance market so that you don’t have to, and we will find the best insurer to give you peace of mind.

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4 Things to Know About Life Insurance and Prostate Cancer 2023

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