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Diabetes Type 1: Cost of Life Assurance?

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  • 30-06-2008 2:40pm
    #1
    thischarmingman
    Closed Accounts Posts: 54 ✭✭


    Hi All,

    This is my first post on boards.ie!

    I was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes about 6 months ago. I'm 27 and saving for a house. I hear that life assurance premiums go through the roof. Can anyone confirm this? How much are you guys spending on life assurance? Is there anyone you would recommend going with?

    Thanks


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    #2
    nesf
    Registered Users Posts: 27,645 ✭✭✭✭nesf


    I had an increased premium for being a smoker. Then they added half again, or thereabouts because I have bipolar.

    I've no idea of how big the increase is for diabetics but they aren't worried about adding a fair percentage on for having a LTI, though bipolar is possibly riskier than Type 1 Diabetes, given the absurdly high suicide rate alone for Mortgage insurance (i.e. possibility of death in the short term will push up your premium far more than possibility of death in the long term from my understanding of how they calculate these things). There's no actual physical tests or anything so you get dumped with the average for your "illness type" which is a bit of a bitch.


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    #3
    tbh
    Closed Accounts Posts: 15,914 ✭✭✭✭tbh


    Hi there, and welcome to boards :)

    Just to give you my experience with Life assurance, I had to take it out twice, once for my main mortgage (seven years ago), and again when we got a top-up loan (about 4 years ago)

    I got a joint mortgage with my sister, who doesn't have diabetes, I've had type 1 for about 13 years.

    When I got the first mortgage, I had to get a report from my specialist, who confirmed that I had had decent control for the previous couple of years and had not been hospitalised for any reason. He included my Hb1ac results, and as a result, I got loaded by a small amount on the premium - maybe 5%.

    By the time we got the top-up loan, I had to go through the same hoops, but I hadn't been to the doc's for a while at that stage and so there were really no HB1AC data to speak of. The loading was the same, but I was refused Illness cover (where they pay your mortgage if you are unable to work). This wasn't really a problem because the top-up was only about 10k - still got approved for the mortgage.

    I think I pay something in the region of 60 pm for life assurance between the two mortgages, this would be something like 80% for the first, and 20% for the second. Hope that helps.


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    #4
    thischarmingman
    Closed Accounts Posts: 54 ✭✭thischarmingman


    thanks guys - tbh, that puts me a little more at ease. I have heard stories of loadings of up to 450% for people with poor control (mines pretty decent).


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    #5
    BC
    Registered Users Posts: 1,326 ✭✭✭BC


    Hi,

    I got mortgage protection insurance 6 months ago. I went through these guys who are recommended by the diabetes federation: http://www.ermfinancialservices.ie/

    It costs me around 25 euro a month for a basic mortgage protection package and its with Caledonian. They didn't want a report from my specialist, i had to go see their GP. My specialist says a lot of insurance companies are doing that now because they don't want to hear the specialist say that the control is good and so the person shouldn't be loaded.


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