i went for a company that looks at your medical records and then insures you based on that although it did go against me as they will not give me critical life insurance because i decided to go on the bowl cancer screening , every 5 years because my brother died of bowl cancer. the test gave me a clean bill of health but they wont insure me for that now. but at least i know my wife will get paid if i die because if they missed anything in my records its there fault. if you do this they will ask if you want a copy of your midical records, dont do this as they will charge you about £50 for them. You can write to the doctors and see them if you need to.

Thanks for your replies, I think I should just tell them everything then there's no way they can get out of paying should the worst happen.

If the policy is over £500k the provider will usually ask for your medical records. Anything under that they will typically go with what you tell them on the application. You have a duty to declare any illness or ailments, and most providers websites will point you in the right direction by giving you lists of those. If you are not sure, get in touch with a decent broker who should be able to give you some advice.

From what I understand, I think the way this works is that when you make a claim they can get your medical records and see if you had anything that put you at risk, but you didn't tell them about. That could then invalidate your claim. For example, if you got headaches on occasion and went to the doctor about it and then didn't put it on your application and later found out you had a brain tumor (god forbid), this would invalidate your claim. Obviously if you haven't gone to the doctor with a condition then how can they know, so there's no need to report it.

To be 100% truthful, this advice is based on stories I've heard about the US health system so might not be completely accurate for the UK. I think it makes sense to report everything you've been to the doctor for though.

I'm just about to buy a new house and obviously need to take out life insurance to cover the mortgage in the event of my death. I have been asked to list all medical condtions during the last five years. I'm not really sure what qualifies as a 'medical condition'. I had a brief period of depression during my divorce for which I was prescribed Prozac. I will obviously declare this.

Other than that I'm not sure what sort of thing I am expected to declare. Is it just serious and ongoing condtions? Cant think that they need to know about every sniffle but I just want to get it right. I dont want to give them any reason to wriggle out of paying up if I die and landing my sons with a massive finacial headache!

Any advice gratefully received.