The numbers an underwriter wants
Your application will ask whether a doctor has ever told you your cholesterol is raised, and if so, for your most recent result and its date. Many insurers ask for the total figure and the HDL figure, sometimes called good cholesterol, because the ratio between the two says more about heart risk than either one alone.
You can find these results on your NHS app or in the letter from your last health check. If you only have a rough memory of them, say so on the form. The insurer can write to your GP for the exact figures with your consent.
- Your latest total and HDL cholesterol, with the date
- When you were first told it was high
- Any statin or other cholesterol medicine, and the dose
- Blood pressure, weight and smoking status
- Any heart, circulation or diabetes diagnosis
Statins, diet and the wider picture
Some applicants worry that admitting to a statin will push the price up. In practice, underwriters see treatment as a sign that you and your GP have the risk in hand. A good result on medication is usually viewed much like a good result without it.
Cholesterol is one piece of a heart risk puzzle. The underwriter puts your result next to your age, blood pressure, BMI, family history and smoking. Someone with a moderately high reading and nothing else of note is a very different case from someone who also smokes and has raised blood pressure.
Familial hypercholesterolaemia
Familial hypercholesterolaemia, often shortened to FH, is an inherited form of high cholesterol that tends to show up young and can run strongly in families. Insurers ask about it separately because it carries a higher lifetime heart risk than cholesterol linked to diet and age.
If you have FH, expect questions about when you were diagnosed, your treatment, how your levels have responded and whether you have had any heart tests. Early diagnosis and steady treatment both count in your favour, and some insurers on our panel are more comfortable with FH than others.
What you could be offered
Treated or mildly raised cholesterol with no other heart risks often gets standard terms for life cover. Very high readings, untreated levels or a cluster of risks can mean a premium loading. Critical illness cover looks at the same facts with heart attack and stroke in mind, so it can come back with a higher loading than life cover. Postponements and declines for cholesterol alone are unusual, but insurers set their own rules, so we cannot promise any result before you apply.
Answer the cholesterol question even if your levels came down years ago. Your GP record will show the result, and a missing answer can cause trouble at claim time. The same applies to a result your GP called borderline and simply asked you to recheck in a year. If the form asks whether you have ever been told your cholesterol was high, that counts.
How Hi Tomorrow helps with high cholesterol
We look at your results alongside your other heart risks before choosing where to apply. Some insurers give more credit for a good ratio or for steady results on a statin, and we know which ones on our panel tend to do that.
If a nurse screening is part of the application, we will explain what it involves and help book it. When the offer arrives, we go through it with you and compare it with other insurers if it is not right.