Over 50s Life Insurance: Everything You Need to Know Before Buying
Over 50s life insurance is commonly known as an over 50s plan. It is a non-medical policy meaning it’s not medically underwritten. So, the insurers don’t care what your medical conditions are and are happy to offer you guaranteed cover. As with any insurance, over 50s plan also has an age limit which is generally 75, but with an over 50s plan there’s no end date meaning it pays out when you pass away irrespective of when that happens. An over 50s plan is technically a whole-of-life cover meaning its guaranteed to pay out and therefore it is an expensive policy.
Firstly, it’s primarily meant for people with major health conditions as they can’t get cover elsewhere. This isn’t to say that a health individual can’t take it out, however, it’s not the right type of cover for someone who’s healthy. The reason being, the insurer offering this type of cover wouldn’t differentiate between two individuals based on their health as long as they’re the same age and have the smoking status. So, if you’re healthy and you take out an over 50s plan, you’ll be charged the exact same price as someone else your age who could be suffering with something serious, such as cancer.
For someone over 50 who intends to leave some money behind for their children or grandchildren as a parting gift, or simply to help cover their funeral expenses, there are several medically underwritten life insurance options available, ranging from term assurance policies that could take you all the way up to your 90th birthday to standard whole-of-life cover that could give you twice as much cover compared with an over-50s plan.
