52 guides
Health & medical questions
How insurers ask about health and lifestyle, what disclosure requires, and what can happen with a particular condition. Nothing here is a promise of cover or price.
- Can you get life insurance with a criminal record? Yes, you can apply for life insurance if you have a criminal record, but what you must tell the insurer depends on whether the conviction is spent or unspe…
- Cannabis, CBD and recreational drugs: how they affect life … Life insurance and cannabis in the UK: the application forms from Aviva, Legal & General and Royal London ask about cannabis in a question on recreational…
- Critical illness cover with no medical questions Critical illness cover with no medical questions is available through some employer group schemes, where the insurer relies on an exclusion for past illnes…
- Dangerous sports and hobbies: how they affect life insurance Extreme sports do not automatically rule out life insurance, in Aviva's words, and in many cases cover is still offered: a hobby such as scuba diving, clim…
- Does family medical history affect life insurance? Family medical history can affect life insurance: insurers ask about close blood relatives and conditions that can run in families, such as heart disease…
- Drinking and life insurance: alcohol questions and past alc… Life insurance applications ask about your alcohol consumption: how much you drink in an average week, whether anyone has advised you to cut down, and on s…
- Health questions on a life insurance application The medical questions for life insurance usually cover height and weight, smoking, alcohol, health history, medication and family history.
- How insurers check smoker status, and what if you misstate … Life insurance companies know if you smoke first because the application asks you, and an insurer can then check your answer with a nicotine test at a nurs…
- Is life insurance an asset or savings? Does life insurance count as an asset? Sometimes, and it depends on who is counting. When someone dies, a payout to their estate is valued with their other…
- Life insurance after a stroke or TIA Can you get life insurance after a stroke, a mini-stroke (TIA) or a brain haemorrhage? Aviva's guidance, published 10 June 2026, says it may be possible, w…
- Life insurance after cancer Yes, you can sometimes get life insurance after cancer, but how long you need to wait depends on the insurer and on the cancer. Aviva says "Having cancer d…
- Life insurance after skin cancer Legal & General life insurance after skin cancer is possible in principle: L&G assesses each application after a cancer individually, and its application a…
- Life insurance and BMI limits There is no single BMI requirement for life insurance in the UK: each insurer sets its own, and Royal London and Vitality publish theirs in literature writ…
- Life insurance and income protection for pilots: aviation e… Life insurance for pilots is sold by the usual insurers, but flying is one of the things their application questions cover, and your answer can change the…
- Life insurance cost for smokers Smokers usually pay more for life insurance than non-smokers, but there is no single answer to how much more life insurance costs for smokers: the gap depe…
- Life insurance declined or postponed: what to do If you are declined for life insurance, ask the insurer why, check whether the letter says declined or postponed, and ask where it would refer you before y…
- Life insurance for diabetics Life insurance with diabetes is available in the UK for type 1 and type 2 alike, but each insurer decides for itself whether to offer cover and what to cha…
- Life insurance for disabled people, including Down syndrome… Disabled people can apply for life insurance, including people with Down syndrome, cerebral palsy or a learning disability, and the Equality Act 2010 sets…
- Life insurance for ex-smokers and ex-vapers How long you have to be a non-smoker for life insurance depends on the insurer: Legal & General and Vitality say 12 months with no tobacco, vapes or nicoti…
- Life insurance for type 2 diabetes Can you get life insurance with type 2 diabetes? Diabetes UK says you can, and Legal & General calls life cover for type 2 "often more straightforward" tha…
- Life insurance while you have cancer You can apply for a life insurance policy if you have cancer, but while treatment is still going on an insurer may hold off until it ends, and none can pro…
- Life insurance with ADHD or autism Yes, you can apply for life insurance with ADHD or autism. In a Health & Protection trade press report of 12 October 2026, a board member of the Group for…
- Life insurance with COPD or emphysema Whether you can get life insurance with COPD depends on the insurer and on the details of your own lung history, and no guide can say in advance how an app…
- Life insurance with Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis Life insurance with Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis begins with the health questions on the application, and the Legal & General and Royal London for…
- Life insurance with HIV You can apply for life insurance with HIV in the UK, and the Terrence Higgins Trust (THT) says access has improved in recent years as many insurers have co…
- Life insurance with Parkinson's disease Life insurance with Parkinson's disease is open to apply for, by two quite different routes: a standard policy, where the insurer asks about your Parkinson…
- Life insurance with a heart condition or after a heart atta… You can apply for life insurance with a heart condition, including after a heart attack, but each insurer reaches its own decision and their positions diff…
- Life insurance with a mental health condition Can you get life insurance with mental health issues? You can apply, and insurers decide case by case. Legal & General (L&G) says "it is possible to get li…
- Life insurance with a terminal illness Whether you can get life insurance with a terminal illness depends on the type of cover and the insurer, and a policy you already hold may include a termin…
- Life insurance with a thyroid condition An underactive thyroid does not stop you applying for life insurance; insurers ask about it, and about an overactive thyroid, and the questions they publis…
- Life insurance with arthritis Life insurance with rheumatoid arthritis is something Legal & General's consumer guide on arthritis (9 February 2026) speaks to directly: "simply having ar…
- Life insurance with asthma Yes, you can get life insurance with asthma, and what an insurer offers depends on how severe your asthma is and how well it is kept in check, not only on…
- Life insurance with bipolar disorder or schizophrenia Whether you can get life insurance with bipolar disorder is settled application by application, not by the diagnosis alone. Aviva's guide to mental health…
- Life insurance with epilepsy It is possible to get life insurance with epilepsy, Aviva and Legal & General both say in their guides, and the questions they publish centre on the type o…
- Life insurance with fibromyalgia or chronic fatigue Can you get life insurance with fibromyalgia or ME/CFS? You can apply: Aviva's guide to pre-existing conditions says a health condition may cost more or sl…
- Life insurance with high blood pressure High blood pressure alone should not rule you out of life insurance, Legal & General (L&G) says, and Aviva's guidance puts it plainly: "You can still get l…
- Life insurance with high cholesterol You can apply for life insurance with high cholesterol, and insurers treat it as part of your medical history: they ask for a recent reading, any treatment…
- Life insurance with kidney disease Life insurance for kidney patients is open to apply for, but there is no single answer: an insurer asks about your kidney disease, kidney failure, dialysis…
- Life insurance with liver disease or hepatitis Life insurance with liver disease is something insurers assess case by case: the answer turns on which condition you have, how far it has progressed and wh…
- Life insurance with lupus or another autoimmune disease Lupus does not stop you applying for life insurance, but it is a condition application forms ask about, and the follow-up questions reach into how active i…
- Life insurance with multiple sclerosis Can you get life insurance with multiple sclerosis? Often you can, though what an insurer offers depends on the detail of your MS: which type it is, how it…
- Life insurance with pre-existing health conditions 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…
- Life insurance with sickle cell disease People with sickle cell can apply for life insurance, and Aviva says a pre-existing medical condition won't necessarily prevent you getting cover, though i…
- Life insurance with sleep apnoea You can apply for life insurance with sleep apnoea, and several large insurers' application forms ask about it by name, so the first step is answering that…
- Life insurance without a medical exam Yes, you can get life insurance without a medical exam, though not always without health questions. Aviva says of its own term cover that "in most cases, y…
- Medical evidence for life insurance: nurse screenings, GP r… A non-medical limit is the age and cover amount at which a life insurer stops relying on your application answers alone and asks for a nurse screening, blo…
- Mortgage protection with no medical questions Mortgage protection insurance with no health questions is not how decreasing cover for a repayment mortgage is usually sold: the plans that skip health que…
- Pre-existing conditions and non-disclosure: what you must t… The disclosure requirements for life insurance rest on one legal duty: when you apply, you must take reasonable care not to misrepresent anything to the in…
- Vaping, nicotine replacement, cigars and shisha: do they co… Does vaping count as smoking for life insurance? With Legal & General and Aviva, yes: L&G says so in terms, and Aviva's underwriting guide classes vape-onl…
- What a premium loading on life insurance means A loading in life insurance is an increase added to the standard premium because the insurer judges the applicant a higher risk than average, for reasons o…
- What is guaranteed life insurance? Guaranteed life insurance usually means guaranteed acceptance life insurance: a whole of life policy that, inside an age band, accepts you without asking a…
- What is life insurance underwriting? In life insurance, underwriting means the insurer's assessment of the risk you present, which decides whether it offers you cover, on what terms and at wha…