Wear It Pink 2022 - Accessing insurance

Wear It Pink 2022 – Accessing insurance

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month, and within that there’s also Wear It Pink, on 21st October. 

Wear It Pink has gained more and more attention each year, and rightly so. The idea behind this is to wear pink and raise money for life saving research and support to those affected. There’s thousands of people who take part in this, making it now one of the biggest campaigns in the UK, with £37.5 million raised to date.

How can you get involved?

It’s pretty simple, wear pink. Whether you’re taking part at work, school, or in your local community, there are many options and ways to fundraise and raise awareness. You can sign up to take part on the Wear It Pink website, and you can then be sent things like posters, bunting, balloons. You’ll also be sent fundraising tips, advice and more details about the event as a whole.

What is breast cancer?

Breast cancer happens to be the most common type of cancer in the UK. Most women who are diagnosed tend to be over the age of 50, but younger women can receive a diagnosis too. Whilst women are more likely to get breast cancer, men can also get it too.

It’s estimated that around 55,000 and 370 men will receive a diagnosis of breast cancer in this year alone. On top of that, around 11,500 and 80 men will die from breast cancer.

Around 1 in every 8 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer, though thanks to the continued research there’s a good chance of recovery, especially if it is found early on.

There’s a number of common symptoms and each person can experience breast cancer symptoms differently. The things to look out for are:

• A lump or swelling in your armpits
• A rash on or around your nipple
• A change in the size or shape of your breast(s)
• Discharge from your nipples
• The skin around your breasts dimpling
  
  

The non-profit Know Your Lemons infographic is an amazing way of showing you some of the ways that you can check for changes in your breast, that might be a sign of cancer.

Unlike a number of other conditions, there’s not an exact known cause of breast cancer. There are though things which can increase the risk of a diagnosis, such as:

• Family history of breast cancer
• Drinking alcohol
• A previous non-cancerous breast lump
• A previous diagnosis of breast cancer
  
  

Accessing insurance

When it comes to applying for protection insurance having previously been diagnosed with breast cancer, there are a few questions you can expect to see. The insurer will be interested in knowing the stage and grading of the cancer, what treatment you had, when you last received treatment and if you’re not fully recovered and free of treatment.

Life insurance

Life insurance can potentially be available at normal terms, depending on the staging and grading of the cancer, and the amount of time that has passed since your last treatment. If the cancer had a high grade or stage and/or there has been treatment recently, it’s normal for the application to be accepted with a price increase or potentially postponed until a bit more time has passed.

Our advisers are here to search the life insurance market for you and let you know the best route to getting your vital cover in place. 

Critical illness cover

An application for critical illness cover will initially be looked at in a similar way to one for life insurance, and you’ll be asked roughly the same questions. If the cancer was a low grade or stage then you might receive terms with a cancer exclusion. Now this exclusion with some insurers might be for breast cancer, others might do a full cancer exclusion, this is a big difference and our advisers are here to find the most valuable insurance for you.

Where there has been a high stage or grade, or there has been recent treatment, it’s likely that the insurer will postpone the application until a set period of time has passed. If this is the case, specialist policies can be considered.

Income protection

The questions you see on an income protection application and terms that you’re offered may be quite similar to critical illness cover. It’s possible that you could see normal terms, a price increase, or there might be an exclusion added to the policy. There can be some really good options for people that own their own Ltd company, as we can potentially arrange income protection through the company. There are quite a few perks of doing things this way and our advisers can talk you through them and give you a no obligation quotation. 

Applying for protection insurance can be daunting. Whether you just have a couple of questions or are ready to start your application, our advisers are on hand to help.

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Answering the public’s common questions – life insurance edition