Can You Get Life Insurance With a Health Condition?
Almost every health condition is insurable in the UK. What changes is the price, and sometimes a word in the policy. The people who struggle are usually the ones who assumed the answer was no and never asked, or who left something off the form and had it found at claim stage.
Start with your condition
Each guide covers what the insurer will ask, what it does to the price, and what actually improves the answer.
Diabetes
Type 1 and type 2 are both routinely insured. Your HbA1c and any complications move the price far more than the diagnosis.
Diabetes, a plan built for it
Royal London prices type 1 and type 2 on your HbA1c and looks at it every year. A better reading can cut the premium by up to 40 per cent over a few years, provided the condition is improving.
A cancer history
Most people can get cover once enough time has passed since treatment. Soon after, the usual answer is a postponement, not a refusal.
Depression or anxiety
Life cover is usually standard rates. Income protection is where an exclusion can appear, and that is the one worth challenging.
High blood pressure or cholesterol
Treated and controlled often gets standard rates. Untreated or uncontrolled is what raises the price.
A weight loss injection
Mounjaro and Wegovy must be declared. Insurers price why it was prescribed, not the drug itself.
Smoking or vaping
Many insurers treat vaping as smoking.
A family history
Insurers can ask what your relatives had.
Back or neck problems
The most claimed for problem on income protection, and rarely covered by critical illness policies.
No sick pay at all
Self employed people get no Statutory Sick Pay. That changes which cover matters first.
The four things an underwriter can say
People expect a yes or a no. In practice there are four answers, and only one of them is a refusal.
A postponement is the one most often mistaken for a decline. It comes with a date, and terms genuinely improve by the time that date arrives.
What actually improves the answer
- Get your own figures first, such as your latest HbA1c, blood pressure reading, or the stage and grade on a cancer diagnosis. Applying without them means the insurer writes to your GP, which adds weeks.
- Ask for a pre-assessment across several insurers rather than submitting one formal application blind.
- Answer every medical question in full, including things that seem old or trivial.
- Never cancel an existing policy until new terms are issued and accepted.
- Diarise a review. Ratings can come down, and no insurer writes to tell you.
The pre-assessment is the step that saves the most money. A formal application that gets declined sits on your record and makes the next one harder. A pre-assessment does not.
Once you have cover, two things still matter
Do insurers actually pay out?
ABI figures show that 97.9 per cent or more of new individual protection claims have been paid each year over the last decade (ABI, 2025). The refusals cluster in predictable places.
Should it be written in trust?
Usually free to set up, and it decides whether your family waits weeks or months for the money.
What people actually claim for
Cancer dominates critical illness. Back and neck problems dominate income protection. Different risks.
Why critical illness claims fail
The definition decides it, not the insurer's attitude. Worth reading before you buy, not after.
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Frequently asked questions
Will a health condition stop me getting life insurance?
Usually not. Most conditions produce a higher premium or an exclusion rather than a refusal. An outright decline is far less common than people expect, and different insurers reach different answers on the same history.
Should I leave something off the application?
No. Anything recorded by your GP is in your medical records, and non-disclosure is the most common reason a claim fails. Declaring it costs far less than a disputed claim.
Why do insurers give different answers?
Because each one writes its own underwriting rules. Two insurers can see the same history and quote very different prices, which is the whole argument for not taking the first quote.
What is a pre-assessment?
An adviser puts an anonymous summary of your history to several underwriters before any formal application. It gives you a realistic answer without creating a record of a declined application.
I was declined before. Is it worth trying again?
Yes. Underwriting rules change, and time since diagnosis or treatment usually improves terms. Being declined by one insurer is not the same as being uninsurable.
Does it cost more to use an adviser?
There is no charge to you for the conversation. If you take out a policy, the insurer may pay us a commission.
Been told no before, or never asked?
There is no charge to you for a conversation. If you take out a policy, the insurer may pay us a commission.
Underwriting decisions are made by the insurer, not by us, and terms differ between insurers. Always read the key features document before you commit.