HIV Insurance Further Information

Important things that you need to know about with HIV Life Insurance

Please be aware that once accepted your quoted premium and also the amount of cover you are applying for could change due to the severity of your condition. Once PruProtect have offered you cover please ensure that you have received the policy schedule in the mail and that the first payment has been debited from your bank account as confirmation that your life insurance is in place. Please contact Lifebroker if you are unsure or have any concerns regarding this.

Life Cover for people with living with HIV

As you are aware PruProtect provides life cover to consumers who are HIV positive subject to certain criteria being met. Premiums will be underwritten on your individual circumstances to accurately and fairly reflect the additional risk. Initially cover will be restricted to a limited range of people with HIV, however PruProtect aims to broaden the qualifying criteria in future to cover more people.

Full Acceptance Criteria

• Maximum sum assured £250,000
• Maximum term 10 years
• Minimum age of applicant 25
• Maximum expiry age 60
• Method of transmission is not through intravenous drug use
• Applicant must be on *HAART, which started
  • in the UK
  • more than six months ago
• Maximum treatment duration 5 – 10 years:
  • if on treatment for up to 5 years maximum policy term is 10 years
  • if on treatment for 6 years maximum term is 9 years.
  • if on treatment for 7 years maximum term is 8 years.
  • if on treatment for 8 years maximum term is 7 years.
  • if on treatment for 9 years maximum term is 6 years.
  • if on treatment for 10 years can offer of 5 years.
• Treatment should be successful with increasing *CD4 cell count and viral load should be suppressed to near undetectable level.
• *Hepatitis B and C negative
• No *AIDS defining illness
• Good adherence to treatment (as shown by monitoring of *viral load, CD4 count and treatment history)

Underwriting Procedure

The term 'underwriting' simply means assessing. It is in your interests to assess your application before you and the insurer agree to commence the HIV life insurance. This will give you confidence that the insurance company knows all about your medical history and are more likely to pay out. If you have a pre existing health condition such as HIV this is declared to the life insurance company and they will assess your condition accordingly. They do this by firstly asking you about it in your online HIV life insurance application, and then they will communicate directly with your HIV Specialist. Once the life insurance company have all the information they require they then assess your application and decide if they can offer you HIV life cover.

What are the benefits of being underwritten?

There are two reasons that being underwritten is beneficial:

• Having disclosed your full medical history to PruProtect you know that your loved ones are more likely to benefit if a claim is made
• HIV life insurance premiums are lower if your application is underwritten

During the application process the following will be requested by PruProtect:

• Confidential Questionnaire: this is emailed to you
• Doctor's Report: PruProtect will write to your Doctor / Specialist
• Medical examamination including hepatitis screening: this should be either from your Doctor or Specialist depending on your preference

Acceptance

In order for PruProtect to accept your application the following criteria needs to be met in addition to the above initial requirements:

• Good adherence to HAART (anti-viral treatment)
• Estimated zero conversion date within the last 10 years
• Viral load virtually undetectable (<500)
• Pre HAART CD4 count of more than 250
• CD4 count to be maintained above 250 throughout treatment

Additional information

HAART-highly active anti-retroviral therapy. A combination of 3 or more highly potent anti-hiv drugs taken together to treat retroviral infection.

CD4-a blood test which indicates, or measures the health of the immune system. The higher the reading the better.

Viral load-the amount of HIV in the blood. The lower the better.

Sero conversion-The change from HIV-negative to HIV-positive status during blood testing

Hepatitis testing- often goes hand in hand with HIV due to co-infection

Aids defining illness’s- illness’s which are often secondary to HIV, eg TB, Pneumonia, Karposi sarcoma and waisting syndrome.

Please contact Lifebroker if you have any questions about HIV Life Insurance.