"It won’t affect me…"

Insurance Nightmare Number Three

(When a hysterectomy induces underwriting hysteria and you’re suddenly expected to be a liability on legs)

Of all the areas where you’re most likely to induce a spasm of panic into a room full of underwriters, health and life insurance unfortunately tops the bill .. which is unfortunate if you were in the midst of getting your first mortgage…

There is, unfortunately, an unchallenged assumption that taking a scalpel to someone’s body in the name of gender reassignment somehow voids nature’s warranty in a way that wouldn’t be the case if the self-same procedure were carried out for some other reason.

Removing cystic ovaries or cancer-riddled wombs is OK. Taking out healthy ones isn’t. Insuring a man whose genitals were shot away on the battlefield is OK, insuring a transsexual woman whose parts have been carefully and professionally remodelled in a planned operation is considered an unquantifiable risk in some places.

To be fair, not all insurers think this way. But a lot still do.

So if you’re refused health or life insurance because of your medical history .. or if you’re offered cover with unreasonable exclusions on cover or a weighted premium, let us know.

Yet again, however, don’t assume that everything is fine if you left the fact of your treatment off the proposal form, or if you’ve taken up insurance in a promotional offer that didn’t ask for a history.

If you’ve knowingly withheld the information then you are simply wasting your money every month. The company will argue strongly that you’ve contravened their terms if you need to make a claim.

If the company didn’t ask for the information (or if the cover was provided on your behalf through an employer’s group scheme) get advice now!