Tumour means a life without insurance

For David Elliot, life was never going to be the same after he was told he had a brain tumour. That was three years ago, and after a life-saving operation he has made a good recovery. But he lives in the knowledge that the tumour is likely to re-occur at some point in the next 10 years. What's more, he will spend the rest of his life taking tablets to curb his epilepsy.

Mr Elliot, now aged 41, believes he is the "luckiest man alive" to have come through it. But he can no longer get life insurance.

That poses a problem for his wife Jayne, who says: "When something like this strikes you don't always realise how it is going to affect you. I didn't think about life insurance being affected by it - but it obviously is."

The couple have a two-year-old son, Jack, and last year the family relocated from London to Barnsley in Yorkshire. The Elliots remortgaged with the Woolwich for £95,000. But David was unable to take out life assurance to cover the debt.

"The Woolwich's underwriters refused to give me life insurance cover. Jayne has life and critical illness cover for the entire mortgage," he says.

Kevin Carr, a senior techni cal adviser from LifeSearch says: "If someone has had a heart attack or a rather nasty form of cancer within two or three years of applying for insurance the chances of life cover are particularly unlikely."

But he says if within a certain period, usually up to five years, the person makes a full recovery life companies will consider insuring them again - but at a price. Insurers will apply a "loading" on to a policy which Mr Carr says can be as much as 10 times the rate paid by others.

For example, a man of Mr Elliot's age, who has a "clean life" and is applying for decreasing cover life insurance on a £95,000 mortgage over a 25-year term would pay £12.38 per month with Legal & General.

Someone in Mr Elliot's position would be unable to obtain life insurance for the first four years after the operation. When this period is up, life cover should be available "but at a very high premium".

Mr Carr says: "A standard quote of £12 per month could actually be more than £150 per month after underwriting, although this extra premium wouldn't necessarily be for the full term of the policy. It will be roughly 10 years after the operation, with a full recovery, when insurers would start to consider ordinary premiums."

The Special Risks Bureau (SRB), the life company which underwrites for high-risk clients with medical conditions or those who like to climb mountains or race cars, says it has a 70% success rate placing its clients with insurers.

Eric Purdy, chief under writer from SRB, said it would be another year before it could quote any terms for Mr Elliot, and then they are going to be very heavy.

He said: "There is still an extra mortality issue to consider compared with the general population. It is further compounded by his epilepsy, which gets a rating anyway. He would only be able to obtain some form of term insurance cover. And it is unlikely he'll ever be offered critical illness cover again unless it has a stringent exclusion for cancers."

After seeking advice from an independent financial adviser the Elliot family have self-insured themselves. They now have six months' emergency money saved up for the worst case scenario.

And it's not all bad news for David. His previous mortgage lender, Alliance & Leicester, has allowed him to keep £55,000 of life cover from an existing policy - although at a cost of £45 a month. This is known as a Guaranteed Insurability Option (GIO) where the insurance company will allow the insured up to 50% of the original sum assured without underwriting.

·Where to go for help: specialrisksbureau.com, tel 01245 491417. lifesearch.co.uk

Skin deep

It is not just serious medical complaints that can hold up life insurance cover, writes Miles Brignall.

Justin Hopwood, Gloucester Rugby Club's media and marketing manager, has just been through "two weeks of unnecessary stress" after his application was initially declined because of a minor skin complaint that has never caused him any problems and was declared benign in 1994.

He and his wife Katie are in the process of moving to a new home in Thornbury, north Bristol, and as a part of the purchase they decided to buy life and critical illness insurance.

"I have an unusual condition called Becker's nevus which is nothing more than a slight discolouration of a small patch of skin. I was somewhat surprised when Scottish Provident announced they would not offer me cancer cover," says Mr Hopwood.

Various visits to doctors, and countless phone calls to Scot Prov eventually sorted things out. "One big problem is the fact that you never talk to the people making the decisions. In fairness to Scot Prov they did say that they would offer me cover if I had to move quickly, and gave me the option to cancel.

"My advice to anyone with skin conditions or unusual moles is to get your application in early and to get a full copy of your medical records before you start. It'll save you a lot of hassle if they question any part of your medical history - believe me," he says.