Worth a pregnant pause for thought

Women planning to have a baby should buy life insurance before they get pregnant, warns a leading independent financial adviser.

Philippa Gee of Wolverhampton firm Torquil Clark says that women who have straightforward pregnancies should have few problems getting life insurance, but those who incur complications and then seek life cover are likely to find insurers refuse to sell them a policy until after their child is born. 'Death through pregnancy is rare today, but in most cases this is not what women are looking to protect their families against - they want cover for death through everyday accidents and illnesses,' she says. 'For something as simple as a pregnant woman buying a house and wanting life insurance to cover the mortgage, this could be a problem.'

Conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes, toxaemia and hypertension are likely to result in an insurance application being delayed. Dr William Mor gan, medical adviser to insurer Liverpool Victoria, says: 'We are seeing a generation wave of high-risk mothers who are more likely to face complications or women who have IVF and are likely to have multiple births, increasing the risk of severe pre-eclampsia. Second pregnancies where the first has been complex would almost certainly cause insurance companies to delay cover until after birth.'

David Oram, a West Midlands GP, says: 'Serious pre-existing medical conditions can advance rapidly, or be untreatable during pregnancy and sometimes these can go undetected until the baby is on the way. Breast cancer can thrive in maternity months and the delay of an operation can reduce life expectancy by three or four years. Cervical cancer cannot be treated while a child is being carried.'

Gee says that although many insurers will now sell insurance to healthy pregnant women, they will not allow them to take out a 'waiver of premium' option - insurance to cover the cost of premiums if the holder is off work through illness for any length of time - until after the baby is born. She believes this is because insurers fear exposing themselves to the liability of pregnant policy holders taking time off work through morning sickness.