A Guide to Coronavirus and Life Insurance

COVID-19 is a virus that began to be transmitted around the world at the start of 2020. For a good while the insurance world really closed down and it was hard to get life insurance for many people, but things have changed.

Not all, but some insurers still ask about covid when you apply for life insurance and this is what we might need to ask you:

• Have you had a positive test for coronavirus?
• Have you been in contact with someone that is known to have COVID-19?
• Have you recently travelled to any countries considered to be a higher risk of contracting COVID-19, such as Italy or China.
• If you have had the virus, have you been left with any lasting complications?

When you apply for life insurance, insurers generally ask about a number of things: your health, the health of your immediate family, your travel history and plans for the future, what you do for a living and if you do anything crazy like jumping out of planes on a weekend. These are pretty standard.

Assuming that you have not been diagnosed with coronavirus and to the best of your knowledge have not come directly into contact with someone that has COVID-19, then your life insurance application could still be pretty straightforward.

It would seem that coronavirus can sometimes leave people with breathing difficulties for a while, even after they have been given the all clear. Insurers might ask you about any potential that you have long covid, or have developed any other medical conditions as the result of having covid-19.

If you currently have coronavirus or are suspected to have it, some insurers will postpone your life insurance application, until you have made a full recovery or pass the isolation phase.

For anyone that has contracted coronavirus and now made a full recovery, life insurance should be available soon after recovery so long as there are no serious complications.

Critical illness cover pays out a cash lump sum of money, if you are diagnosed with a medical condition that is listed in the insurer’s claims set e.g. cancer, heart attack, stroke.

If you have had coronavirus and are fully recovered you should be able to get critical illness cover at normal terms.

For people that have developed long covid or other conditions as the result of covid, your critical illness cover might need to be placed with more specialist insurers.

If you currently have symptoms of coronavirus many, but not all, UK insurers will want to see that you have fully recovered before offering you critical illness cover.

Income protection pays you a replacement of your monthly income, if you are unable to work due to ill health.

Income protection for people that have had covid-19 and have fully recovered should be available at normal terms.

If you have long covid it’s likely that you will need to look at specialist routes to protect your income. Some of these will exclude claims relating to the long covid and it’s really important to speak with an adviser that can explain these technicalities to you.

With the current situation, some travel insurance companies are not currently offering new travel insurance policies. If you are currently abroad and trying to get home, we recommend that you speak with your travel agent and insurance company, to discuss ways of getting home. There are also dedicated support groups being set up to support people that are stranded outside of the UK, please contact the British embassy where you are and your local MP to provide you assistance.