Yes, you can get life insurance with a medical condition in many cases, but not always, and not always on the usual terms. Legal & General says "there are a lot of medical conditions that will still allow you to get life insurance", while adding that "every individual is different". Whether an insurer accepts you, and at what price, depends on its assessment of your condition.

Nothing written here can say what an insurer will decide about you. For a view on your own details, someone has to look at them properly: the quote form here hands them to an FCA-authorised broker, free of charge.

What can an insurer decide about an application?

An industry agreement on explaining underwriting decisions, drawn up by the Access to Insurance group and published by BIBA (signatories as at March 2021), gives the general picture: most underwritten policies "are accepted with no change to the standard premium based on age and smoker status", but "for those with pre-existing medical conditions premiums may be higher or cover may be unavailable". It lists the non-standard outcomes as being "declined or deferred cover, charged an increased premium or has a part of their cover excluded".

Insurers set these out in their own terms. VitalityLife's underwriting page, written for advisers and undated, lists the decisions it makes:

  • Standard terms: "Client is accepted on VitalityLife’s normal rate of premium."
  • Loading: "an increase charged on the premium because the applicant is a higher risk than average."
  • Special terms: "we exclude coverage for a certain condition, but generally charge our normal rate of premium."
  • Postpone: "The underwriting decision needs to be delayed", which it says usually happens when a condition has been recently diagnosed or symptoms are still being investigated.
  • Decline: "Cover cannot be offered because the risk is too high."

The same Vitality page says "Exclusions are never used for Life Cover"; it keeps them for "serious illness and disability benefits", the kind of cover discussed in critical illness with a medical history and income protection and pre-existing conditions. That is Vitality's rule, not the market's. Aviva's general guide to pre-existing conditions (WC05512 01/2025) says, in broader terms, that options "could include paying more to cover a pre-existing condition or taking out a policy which excludes the condition".

Legal & General (page dated 16 March 2026) counts as pre-existing "any illness or injury that exists before, or at the time you take out a life insurance policy". The wider process is in what underwriting means.

What will you be asked, and what must you tell the insurer?

You are asked about your health on the application. Legal & General says the questions cover age, occupation, smoker status, height and weight, medical history and more, and that if you give details of a condition it may ask for "the name of the condition you have", "the date you were diagnosed" and "any medication you take as well as the date you started". The full list of questions is on health questions on a life insurance application.

An insurer may want more than your answers. Aviva says that might be "a report from your GP, a call from a nurse, a mini screening, or a medical exam", and Legal & General says "your insurance company needs your consent before they can request a medical report from your doctor". When each is asked for, and your rights over a GP report, are on medical evidence and non-medical limits and life insurance without a medical.

A condition is exactly the kind of answer to get right. Legal & General warns that "if you do not tell us full and accurate information about your health when applying then any future claim may not be paid", and the Consumer Insurance (Disclosure and Representations) Act 2012 makes it the consumer's duty to take reasonable care not to make a misrepresentation to the insurer, with the insurer's remedies turning on whether a wrong answer was careless or deliberate or reckless. What you must disclose sets those out.

Which insurer suits you best if you have a condition?

No insurer suits everyone, and this page ranks none. The 2021 agreement notes that insurers "may have different risk appetite or claims information", which is why two of them can reach different decisions on the same application. A decision from one is not a verdict from all.

So the useful step is asking more than one. An FCA-authorised broker can put your condition to several insurers and report back on how each treats it, instead of you applying to each in turn; the form on this page asks one to do that for you. A broker cannot promise any insurer will accept you.

The same holds for cover tied to a mortgage (see mortgage protection with no health questions), and going direct to insurers one at a time is set against the broker route in how to get life insurance quotes.

What if you are declined or postponed?

A decline or postponement is one insurer's decision. Some insurers have signed a voluntary agreement on what happens next: the 2023 renewal of BIBA's Access to Insurance agreement (signatories as at 27 September 2023). It says that when an insurer has "made a reasonable decision based on reliable evidence to refuse cover to an applicant with a pre-existing medical condition", an application that came through an intermediary is referred "back to the intermediary, with an explanation as to why cover isn’t available, making clear that another insurer may be able to offer cover". For an application made directly, the insurer will refer the customer to a specialist firm or signpost them to a service "such as the British Insurance Brokers’ Association’s (BIBA) Find-Insurance helpline and website services". It also says "permission must be sought and granted before customer details are transferred to a third party."

Keep its limits in view. The agreement "is a statement of intent and does not create legal obligations between the parties"; it applies only to the firms that signed, and the list on BIBA's site dates from September 2023; and it was due for formal review "no later than January 2026". If you are turned down, ask the insurer whether it follows the agreement and where it would point you. What to do if you are declined or postponed takes the next steps further.

The law sets a test for the decision itself. In England, Wales and Scotland, Schedule 3, paragraph 21 of the Equality Act 2010 says treating someone differently because of a disability is not unlawful discrimination by an insurer if it is "done by reference to information that is both relevant to the assessment of the risk to be insured and from a source on which it is reasonable to rely", and "it is reasonable to do that thing". Both conditions have to be met.

If underwritten cover is not offered, guaranteed-acceptance over-50s plans ask no health questions, but they pay a fixed sum and have a qualifying period. How such plans work is in guaranteed acceptance life insurance, with a provider-by-provider comparison in the best life insurance over 50.

Frequently asked questions

Can you get life insurance if you have a chronic illness?

Often, though not always on standard terms. Aviva says "a pre-existing medical condition won’t necessarily prevent you from getting cover", that premiums "may be higher if you have a serious, chronic medical condition", and that an insurer will sometimes "be unable to offer cover due to medical reasons".

Can you get term cover with diabetes, high blood pressure, a high BMI or a mental health condition?

That turns on the condition and its details, so each has its own page: diabetes, high blood pressure, BMI and mental health, with others for heart conditions, life insurance after cancer and after a stroke.

Can you get whole of life cover with a serious condition?

Underwritten whole of life cover is assessed on your condition in the same way, so it is never guaranteed; the over-50s plans above are the route with no health questions. See what whole of life insurance is.

For an FCA-authorised broker's view of your own history, send the form on this page. There is no charge, and going ahead afterwards is your choice. More is in our health and underwriting guides.

Sources

  • Access to Insurance group, published by BIBA, Explaining underwriting decisions where an insurer offers non standard terms or is unable to offer cover (signatories as at March 2021), read 18 October 2026. biba.org.uk
  • BIBA, An Agreement on access to protection insurance for people with pre-existing medical conditions and disabilities (signatories as at 27 September 2023), read 18 October 2026. biba.org.uk
  • legislation.gov.uk, Equality Act 2010, Schedule 3, paragraph 21, read 18 October 2026. legislation.gov.uk
  • legislation.gov.uk, Consumer Insurance (Disclosure and Representations) Act 2012, sections 2 and 5, read 18 October 2026. legislation.gov.uk
  • VitalityLife, Underwriting (adviser page, undated), read 18 October 2026. adviser.vitality.co.uk
  • Legal & General, Life insurance with pre-existing medical conditions (16 March 2026), read 18 October 2026. legalandgeneral.com
  • Aviva, Can you get life insurance with a pre-existing medical condition? (WC05512 01/2025), read 18 October 2026. aviva.co.uk