I am 26 with pre-existing conditions and I have narrowed down to 2 insurers for whole life plans. Which option should I go for? Coverage: Multiplier X3 Death/TPD $100K CI:$100K ECI:$50K?

Hi Anon,

If I were in your situation, I'd absolutely take the policy with loading. Even if you have to pay a bit more, you can still get covered, as mentioned by Hariz.

Imagine this scenario, you are a stroke survivor, recovered for 5 years now. And you claimed on an old plan previously. So now you have no CI coverage.

You apply and get offered from two insurer. Once loads you, the other doesn't, but excludes stroke. Being a stroke survivor (or cancer, or heart attack, or any other CI, really), you'd be afraid of a second occurance. So naturally you'd rather take the one that loads you, wouldn't you?

And I must stress, short of a total recovery of whatever pre-existing condition you have right now, we are all getting older by the day, and getting less healthy, one day at a time. The next time you want to get more coverage, you will likely be unable to get terms as favourable as what is offered now.

If it's a budget problem, just remember that in such a scenario, the 10% rule doesn't really apply, since you have a loading. And remember that your salary will go up in time to come. Thus, what may seem like a $600/yr extra cost, will be insignificant in say, 5-10 years. My own Whole Life CI cost me more than a month's salary when I started work 10 years ago. Today, it's not even 1/2 a month's salary and I even went to top up my coverage to keep up with the times.

And lastly, as a bit of tidbit, Taiping has just 4 underwriters handling every single case. They are really swamped, especially during the Jul/Aug crush. Even my healthy cases took a while (1 month) to get an approval. So no, don't worry about it. When it comes to claims, you're protected by the Policy Owner's Protection Scheme. Your policy is safe.​​​

Hey Anon, a policy with no exclusions is always the better option.

You are one of the only people in the world that can solve a health problem by paying a little bit more.

Without an exclusion, you're never worried about that particular issue being the cause of your claim. It's true peace of mind.

Now, here's my honest advice.

Take Taiping and buy more coverage. As much as they're willing to give.

This may the last policy you can ever purchase because your pre existing condition may only get worse and in the future and you may get a flat rejection.

The underwriter is giving you a chance at coverage, buy it and hold it close, there are many that would kill to be in your shoes to ensure financial protection on a condition that the underwriter is saying you're likely to claim for.