Pre-existing conditions and DNV health insurance
You have a condition, or a history, and you want to know what it means for a policy. The honest shape of the answer is this: it is a decision about you, made by an insurer, on the information you give them. Nobody can tell you the outcome in advance, and anybody who does is guessing.
What is actually happening when they ask
A health policy is priced and written around the risk the insurer is taking on. Before they agree to take it on, they ask about it. That is underwriting, and it is a process rather than a verdict.
In practice it means: you answer a set of health questions, the insurer assesses the answers, and they come back with a decision about the cover they are prepared to offer you. Different insurers ask different questions, assess them differently, and reach different conclusions about the same person. That is not a flaw in the system — it is why shopping around exists.
Two things follow from that, and both matter more than any general rule:
- The answer is yours specifically. A condition is not a category with a fixed consequence. When it started, how it is managed, how settled it is and what your records say all go into it.
- It is a decision in writing. Whatever the insurer concludes, you should end up holding a document that says what you are covered for. That document, not a conversation, is the thing to read.
Answer everything, and answer it fully
This is the one piece of actual advice on the page, and it is not a moral point. It is the practical one.
An insurance contract is built on the information you gave when you applied. Where that information turns out to be incomplete, the insurer's position on a later claim can change — and the moment you would discover that is the moment you are making a claim, which is the worst possible moment to discover anything.
So a condition disclosed and assessed is a known quantity. You know what you have got, you can read it, and you can decide whether to accept it or try elsewhere. A condition not disclosed is an unknown quantity sitting inside the one arrangement your residence and your health both depend on.
If you are unsure whether something counts — an old episode, something you were investigated for and cleared of, something you take occasionally — say it anyway and let them decide. The cost of mentioning something that turns out to be irrelevant is nothing. The cost of the reverse is not.
What to expect, in order
The shape is the same with most insurers, even though the questions and the outcomes differ.
- The questions. A health declaration, asked of each person to be covered. Answered by them or on their behalf, honestly and completely.
- Possibly follow-up. The insurer may come back for detail — dates, a diagnosis, what treatment there has been, how things stand now. Gathering that before you start saves a fortnight.
- The assessment. Theirs, on their criteria, about you.
- The decision, in writing. Read it against what you expected rather than filing it. If something in it surprises you, ask before the policy starts rather than after.
- Then check it against the standard. A policy an insurer is happy to issue is not automatically a policy that does what your application needs. Those are two separate tests, and what a private policy has to cover is the second one.
What is useful to have ready before step one: the names of any conditions, roughly when each began, what treatment or medication is involved, and when you were last seen about it. Approximate dates are better than no dates, and better than wrong ones.
If the decision is not what you hoped for
It is not the end of the road, and it is not a statement about you.
Ask what it was based on. A decision resting on incomplete information can sometimes be revisited when the information is completed — a letter from the doctor who actually manages the condition, for instance, rather than a form filled in from memory.
Try another insurer. They genuinely do reach different conclusions. One answer is one answer.
Read what you have actually been offered. Cover with something specific carved out is still cover, and whether it works for you depends on what was carved out and on what your application needs. That is a question to answer on the document, not in the abstract.
Check whether you need a private policy at all. Depending on how you work and how you are covered, you may not. Do I need private insurance at all? is worth settling before you spend more effort on underwriting.
Rather talk to a person first?
If you would like to understand how the questions work before you answer them, say so and we will go through the process with you. We will not tell you what an insurer will decide, because we do not know — but we can make sure you are not guessing at what is being asked.
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Common questions
Will a pre-existing condition stop me getting cover?
Yes — declare it, and declare it fully. We cannot tell you what any insurer will decide, because that is a decision about you made on the information you give them. What we can tell you is that a disclosed condition is a known quantity you can read and act on, and an undisclosed one is a problem waiting for the day you claim.
What if I am not sure whether something counts?
Say it anyway and let the insurer decide whether it matters. Mentioning something irrelevant costs nothing. The reverse can cost you the insurer's support at the point of a claim, which is the moment you would least want to be arguing about it.
One insurer came back with conditions — is that the answer everywhere?
No. Different insurers ask different questions and reach different conclusions about the same person, which is exactly why asking a second one is worth doing. One decision is one decision, not a verdict.
Can an underwriting decision be revisited?
Read the decision carefully and ask what it was based on. An assessment made on partial information can sometimes be revisited once the information is complete — a letter from the doctor who actually manages the condition often says more than a form filled in from memory.
If the insurer accepts me, is the policy automatically good enough for my application?
Two separate tests. An insurer deciding it will cover you is the first. Whether the resulting policy does what your application needs is the second, and it is answered on the requirements page, against the document you end up holding.