Critical illness cover for pre-existing conditions starts with an application rather than a yes or no. You can apply with a past or current condition, and the insurer then decides whether to offer cover as it stands, to offer it with an extra premium or an exclusion, or not to offer it.

Whether an insurer might charge more for, exclude or decline your particular history is something to put to an FCA-authorised broker. Your name and phone number, typed into the form on this page, get that broker to call you back free.

What do insurers do with a past condition when you apply?

They ask about it, and your answers set the terms; this assessment is called underwriting, and the questions themselves are covered in health questions on a life insurance application. For critical illness cover, a Legal & General page on pre-existing conditions, dated 16 March 2026, names three possible results: some conditions would mean it is unable to offer the cover, and for others it may add to the premium or exclude that specific condition.

Its policy summary (QGI14786, October 2026) puts the weight on what you tell it. You are not covered without full and accurate answers to its questions before the policy starts, and it warns against assuming it will contact your doctor for your full medical details.

What counts as pre-existing is not fixed. On their life insurance pages, Legal & General points to any illness or injury present before or when the policy is taken out, while Aviva (7 January 2025) also takes in symptoms, medication, advice, treatment and diagnostic tests. Neither page is written for critical illness cover alone, so the wording of the questions on your own application is what to answer.

How do critical illness terms word an exclusion for a condition you already have?

There is no single form of words, so it is worth seeing how a few insurers put it. Aviva's Critical Illness Plan summary (DA09001, May 2023) explains that if something you expected is missing from your policy schedule, it may be because "you selected it but we’ve excluded it due to underwriting". Royal London's plan details for its Personal Menu Plan critical illness cover (July 2025), a plan arranged through an adviser, say it won't pay a claim resulting from an exclusion that your cover summary shows.

Vitality's Personal Protection Plan Summary (February 2025), which is adviser literature, is the most explicit about related claims:

"If the illness, condition or procedure you are claiming for is a direct or indirect consequence of an excluded condition, then we won’t pay any benefit under:"

Serious Illness Cover is one of the covers in the list that follows. Vitality adds that this applies both to conditions excluded from the definitions of named conditions and to those it excluded from your cover at the start of your plan.

Legal & General's summary is gentler in tone: it may restrict parts of the cover because of what you said when applying, and it will list anything excluded in the terms and schedule it sends once the policy is in place.

When your schedule or cover summary arrives, look through it for any exclusion. The wording an insurer might use for your own condition is a fair thing to raise with the broker when they ring, at no charge.

Heart attack, stroke, high BMI or a long-term condition: what shapes the outcome?

Legal & General's examples of pre-existing conditions, which it says are not a complete list, include heart conditions (angina, heart attacks and heart valve problems), a stroke including a mini stroke, epilepsy and high BMI. A place on that list is not a decision: its critical illness answer says every applicant is assessed on an individual basis.

Timing is written into the terms as well. Aviva's summary ties a payout to a diagnosis that meets its policy definition and comes "during the policy term"; among the reasons it gives for not paying is "you’re diagnosed with a critical illness outside the policy term".

Particular conditions have their own pages: life insurance after a heart attack or with a heart condition, life insurance after a stroke or TIA, BMI limits and family medical history. What a payable heart attack means is in critical illness cover and heart attack, and the wider product is in our critical illness and income guides.

Rather talk your history through before you apply anywhere? An FCA-authorised broker phones without charging after a short entry in the form on this page.

What does the disclosure law mean for a critical illness application?

The Consumer Insurance (Disclosure and Representations) Act 2012 asks whether you took reasonable care over your answers, and how clear and specific the insurer's questions were is one of the examples it gives of what may be taken into account. The Act treats a qualifying misrepresentation as careless unless it was deliberate or reckless, which the insurer has to show.

Legal & General's critical illness terms (QGI14872, October 2026) spell out what follows. A deliberately or recklessly inaccurate answer entitles it to cancel the policy and refuse to pay. A careless one entitles it to amend the policy to the terms it would have offered: if it would not have issued the policy at all, it may cancel it but will refund the premiums paid, and where it would have asked a higher premium, it may cut the amount of cover. Aviva's summary says that if you don't answer completely, truthfully and accurately, it may amend or cancel your policy, reduce the amount of a claim, or not pay it. The full remedies are on life insurance disclosure requirements.

What may still be covered if one condition is excluded?

A policy that carries an exclusion is still a critical illness policy. Legal & General says that even if you were unable to get cover for a particular condition there are many illnesses covered by its critical illness cover "in certain circumstances", including many types of cancer, heart attack and stroke. An illness is paid only if it meets the policy's definition, as the list of conditions covered and when a claim is paid explain. Vitality ties its exclusion to a claim that is a direct or indirect consequence of the excluded condition, which is a statement about Vitality's plan, not a rule for every insurer. How far an exclusion reaches depends on each insurer's terms and on what your own schedule or cover summary shows.

Why are conditions present at birth treated differently in children's cover?

In the Legal & General and Aviva documents, children's critical illness cover is part of the parent's plan, and both shut out illness that was already there before a child was insured. Legal & General's policy terms say they will not pay a claim if the "relevant child's condition was present at birth" or the "relevant child's symptoms started before your cover started". Aviva's summary excludes a critical illness present at birth, diagnosed or not, and one whose symptoms began before the child was covered. Vitality's summary excludes from Child Serious Illness Cover any medical condition that existed before the cover's start date (or the adoption or guardianship date), diagnosed or not, though it also says it automatically includes Specified Congenital Conditions.

These are exclusions on the children's benefit. The ages covered, the amounts and the other limits are in what children's critical illness cover includes.

Frequently asked questions

Can I get critical illness cover after a heart attack or stroke?

Legal & General lists both among its examples of pre-existing conditions, and says some conditions would mean it is unable to offer critical illness cover while others may mean an extra premium or an exclusion. How a heart attack or stroke is defined for a claim is a separate matter, set out in critical illness cover and stroke.

Does a high BMI stop me getting critical illness cover?

Legal & General's life insurance page lists height and weight among what it asks about and names high BMI among its examples, so expect the question; the insurer decides what it changes. Life insurance and BMI limits explains how weight is assessed.

What if my application is declined or postponed?

A decline comes from one insurer, and no one can promise cover elsewhere. Next steps after a decline and life insurance with existing health conditions explain what you can do.

When you feel ready, the broker can take you through your history at no charge; a minute with the form on this page arranges it.

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