Life Insurance - diagnosed with cancer between submitting application and doctor's report issued - what are our rights?

Hello, looking for some advice.

My partner has recently been diagnosed with cancer and we are in a right old mess. We found out about the cancer the day after we finished moving in together so we do not have all of our financial and support things in place that we had hoped to sort out within the first 6 months of living together.

We don't know what her prognosis is yet.

No will, not married, I have private health insurance she doesn't, I have life insurance she doesn't.

She applied for life insurance back in the blissful (we had no idea she had cancer at this point) January of 2024, with LV. She heard nothing. She's not a natural chaser of *** customer service people so she left it assuming it would get sorted eventually.

Meanwhile I chased mine, found they had not submitted the report to my doctor (admin error) and eventually got it sorted.

2.5 weeks ago she went to her doctor about a lump and at the same time enquired if they'd had a request for a report from the insurer. Nope!

So my feeling is the insurer have mucked up here. They haven't submitted a request for a report from her doctor within a reasonable period of her submitting the application (say by end of Jan). If they had, she might be covered.

Question is - if we pursue the cover with them and they get a doctor's report, are they going to say "hang on a minute now, you've got cancer"? At which point we say "yes I bloody have now but I didn't know I had it at the point of submission and it's your fault for not progressing the doctor's report"

Do we have any rights here? Could an ombudsman help us? Or are we just going to be shouting into the dark?

  • Hello Imitationofdignity

    I'm sorry to hear that your partner has recently visited her GP after finding a lump. It's understandable that you may both be feeling concerned about this and the financial implications that can sometimes come with a cancer diagnosis. 

    Regarding your query about the life insurance policy, I'd suggest you contact Citizens Advice for some support and information in the first instance. If you want to talk to the Financial Ombudsman as well about your questions then you can contact them via their website. 

    Hopefully you partner won't have to wait too long to see the specialist and they will be able to give her some reassurance. If she would like to talk things through with one of our nurses she's welcome to call them on 0808 800 4040, Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm. 

    Best wishes, 
    Jenn
    Cancer Chat moderator