How honest should you be with life insurance agents?

roberttimmms on 20/09/2021 - 16:45

Long story short, went into the interview with the mindset of talking to my GP. May have disclosed information about trying some drugs a few years back, and they started throwing quite a lot of questions at me regarding that.

In hindsight, I probably could have just lied and said I've never taken drugs in my life, and it's been long enough since I've taken anything that nothing would show up on my bloodwork. Have I shot myself in the foot with regards to my annual cost?

And I guess my second question would be, do insurance companies share information with other companies? ie: if it ends up being way too much and I end up choosing another company, will they have access to my records from this application? I should clarify that this is insurance via superannuation.

Financial Insurance Life Insurance

Comments

  • Jimothy Wongingtons on 20/09/2021 - 16:47
    +7

    Gee, what does the PDS say about non disclosures?

    Imagine going through life, paying the monthly premium and withholding the information and thinking your family is sorted in the event of death touch wood - only to have the insure company squirm out of it on grounds of non-disclosure.

    Ps I love your instant coffee bags

    • netjock on 20/09/2021 - 17:24

      If OP has it on police record then no point not disclosing.

      I'm pretty sure everyone has tried something including weed (when in Amsterdam).

      Obviously if you smell like an ash try then saying you don't smoke isn't going to cut it.

      • Kangal on 20/09/2021 - 22:22

        I haven't. Just too poor.
        Unless you have some (profanity) bargains to share here ': |

    • meowsers on 20/09/2021 - 17:25

      As of the 5th of October consumers no longer have a duty of disclosure!

    • JimmyF on 20/09/2021 - 22:10

      insure company squirm out of it on grounds of non-disclosure.

      Basically this…. By not disclosing, you risk the policy being void and wasted all those insurance premiums paid.

  • Tyken on 20/09/2021 - 16:51

    You should declare everything you can reasonably remember.

    Come claim time they have powers to avoid (Insurance Contracts Act 1984, section 29) your contract if you misrepresent your health/medical history.

    You would make a claim thinking you're covered, but if you misrepresented your health/medical history they can just avoid your contract and it would be like you never had insurance.

  • GG57 on 20/09/2021 - 16:55

    When you say you disclosed information, was that information volunteered or was it provided in response to a specific question or set of questions?

    • roberttimmms on 21/09/2021 - 09:21
      +1

      They started listing out specific drugs, starting at marijuana then going through the party drugs.

      • GG57 on 21/09/2021 - 09:35
        +1

        Assuming your responses were true / accurate, then you have done the right thing. You can still decide if to progress the insurance offering, or not.

  • PensionerXXL on 20/09/2021 - 17:19

    very dishonest if you plan on dying soon and leaving ur loved ones $$$$ ?????

  • meowsers on 20/09/2021 - 17:25
    +1

    Well you're in luck as of the 5th of October consumers no longer have a duty of disclosure!

    Instead, an insured entering into a consumer insurance contract will owe a duty ‘to take reasonable care not to make a misrepresentation’.

    "As a result, we expect it will be more difficult for insurers to exercise remedies for misrepresentations made by insureds prior to entering into consumer insurance contracts after 5 October 2021."

    https://www.insurancenews.com.au/analysis/be-careful-law-cha…

    • Seraphin7 on 20/09/2021 - 17:44

      … aaaaaaaand then everyone will start complaining about increased premiums.

      Amazing how this game works.

    • deme on 20/09/2021 - 17:46

      “A duty to take reasonable care not to make a misrepresentation to an insurer places the burden on an insurer to elicit the information that it needs in order to assess whether it will insure a risk and at what price,” he writes.

      “The duty does not require an individual to surmise, or guess, what information might be important to an insurer.”

      In context this makes sense, it's so the insurance companies must ask rather just say you need to tell them everything.

      You can't lie.

    • djkelly69 on 20/09/2021 - 18:27

      This seems irrelevant to the OP. Aside from the commencement date, it sounds like they specifically asked a question about prior drug use. This would still need to be answered honestly.

      • roberttimmms on 21/09/2021 - 09:22

        Yeah in my case they specifically went through a few individual drugs and asked about each.

  • deme on 20/09/2021 - 17:26

    will they have access to my records from this application?

    Will the answer to that question be the same at your time of death?

    How much are you getting charged and for what?

  • Seraphin7 on 20/09/2021 - 17:52

    The question is, in practical terms, impossible to answer.

    Do you have information that should reasonably be disclosed to your insurer? Sounds like somewhere between possibly and likely.

    Can this be used in the denial of a claim? It depends. If you die in a car accident that is in no way related to previous medical/lifestyle history, then highly unlikely. If you die as a result of some disease or other that may be related to that medical/lifestyle history and there is evidence of that history, then it is possible.

    Do insurers share information with other insurers? No. But, in the event of a claim, the insurer (whichever insurer you happen to have at the time) has the right to request your medical history as part of that claim process (and provision of that history may be a condition on progressing the claim). They will be able to see you consulted a doctor in "September 2021". Pending on a range of factors that are far too numerous to detail here, they may seek information from that doctor that may end up being detrimental to your claim.

    • roberttimmms on 21/09/2021 - 09:26
      +1

      So for someone who is not a regular drug user, and has only taken drugs in the past on random occasions (ie: bucks party, or on overseas vacation), it might be better to omit that information then hey?

      • GG57 on 21/09/2021 - 09:36

        I would probably have omitted it if very random use.

        BTW, using drugs overseas is probably the silliest decision one can make.

      • Seraphin7 on 21/09/2021 - 11:04

        As with many things in life … you pay your money and you take your chances.

      • meowsers on 21/09/2021 - 11:54

        And there would be absolutely no way they could prove it, unless for example it was a coroners case.

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