# Life insurance for a diabetic child



## Kränkel (Sep 22, 2015)

Hello, 

A friend is considering moving to Manchester and she has a diabetic child - 7 years old. In my experience, insurance companies here try to exclude pre-existing conditions from their policy or charge you much more that you opt not to have the coverage. I have tried to get some quotes here and still waiting to hear back from them.

Does anyone know of an Insurance company that will accept diabetic children without making them pay through the roof? 

I hope I can get good leads from this post. Thanks,


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## Redkite (Sep 23, 2015)

Not sure why you would need life insurance for a child?  Life insurance is normally appropriate for people who have dependants.  Are you talking about medical insurance, e.g. BUPA?  This would exclude pre-existing conditions.


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## AndBreathe (Sep 23, 2015)

In the UK, few companies provide life assurance cover for children, for a wide range of reasons.  Those who do provide it usually have the life cover linked to a savings policy, and they aren't usually recommended because of the costs involved, versus other savings vehicles.

When a persona in insuring another there must be an "insurable interest"; in other words, what would the beneficiary lose (aside from the person, their love and companionship, obviously) that would impact their financial position?  

Spouses and partners always have an insurable interest, without question, but wider than that the interest has to be clear.

It is sometimes possible to buy life cover to cover funeral costs (sorry to be directly morbid!), but for a child, I would usually consider it more pertinent for the parent to save regularly instead of paying life cover premiums, with a view to accruing a sum of money that could, if the worst thing happen, be used as a contribution to, if not necessarily fully cover funeral costs.  In the happier outcome where the child survives that sum of money would be available to be used for whatever the parent or child deems fit - without needing the catastrophic event to happen.

The bottom line is, if the child is fit and well, the chances are a life policy would never be called upon (ergo the saving route), but conversely, if the child is already sick, the chances of the parent getting life cover on them is pretty low, at best.

I'm not an advisor, but have worked in technical roles in actuarial and underwriting areas in a major financial services institution, so I have seen the other side of the fence and understand how these things are structured and priced.


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