# Life Policies and the Coronavirus



## Acorn22 (13 Mar 2020)

Hi, I'm aware that some families sadly may lose people during this pandemic.  Will the major insurance companies payout when a crisis like this hits or is there small print in relation to natural disasters etc?


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## LDFerguson (13 Mar 2020)

Covid-19 is not an excluded illness under any life policy with any of the major life insurance companies here.  I've received several e-mails from life companies reassuring people about their working-from-home strategies and contingency plans but to date, only Aviva has e-mailed me (as a broker) about Covid-19 and customer policies.  From their e-mail: Covid-19 is a valid claim on a life insurance policy.  It's also a valid claim on Income Protection if it causes you to be unable to work due to illness for longer than the waiting period.  Covid-19 is not in itself covered as a specified serious illness, but if it leads to you contracting one of the covered conditions, e.g. coma, then that's covered.  

The e-mail also says "*no new COVID-19 restrictions have been applied to our protection policies and currently there are no plans to amend our acceptance criteria."*

There are no new travel restrictions on Aviva life policies due to Covid-19.  

For new applications, if a customer discloses that they have recently been to an affected area, each case will be assessed on a case-by-case basis.  If a new application is from a person who has the virus, the application will be postponed until a full recovery has been made.


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## Acorn22 (14 Mar 2020)

Thanks LD Ferguson that is very useful to know.  Hopefully we won't need to use these policies but your post does give peace of mind.


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## MugsGame (16 Mar 2020)

If the death rate spikes worldwide, could life assurance companies become insolvent? How are pension assets protected in such a scenario?

Have the life companies reinsured these risks? If states are the insurer/assurer of last resort, could this (coupled perhaps with "helicopter money") lead to hyperinflation?

Hopefully we don't have to find out.


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## Acorn22 (17 Mar 2020)

Thankfully the government are keeping this pandemic under as much control as they can so hopefully we do need to think too much down that road.


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## NewEdition (17 Mar 2020)

kingvagabond said:


> Thankfully the government are keeping this pandemic under as much control as they can so hopefully we do need to think too much down that road.


How on earth have you concluded that? We are flying people into the country on a daily basis that have a high chance of being infected. No checks are taking place on people arriving at our borders.


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## Acorn22 (18 Mar 2020)

I thought that they had stopped flights in?  Perhaps I misunderstood.  They must be planning it so.  I know people stuck in Spain with small kids and have been trying all week to get flights home.  They have until Thursday evening as they feel that all flights will be pulled and airlines will be grounding their fleet.  NewEdition have you compared the governments approach in comparison to other countries and how their handling it.  I know that scientist are commending Korea.


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