30% of all people who start an application with Pinnacle Life are eligible for our Healthy Living discount and if we only look at our non-smokers that goes up to 34% of applications. Would you be one of them?
To qualify for the discount, you need to be able to answer all our health questions in a ‘healthy’ way.
This includes some basic stuff, like, have you smoked tobacco, e-cigarettes, cannabis or any other drug in the last 12 months? We all know smoking is bad for your health so if you smoke you’re not going to qualify for a healthy living discount.
We also ask about your height and weight. More easy questions to answer. This gives us an indication of your BMI (Body Mass Index). We calculate this by taking your weight in kilograms and dividing it by the square of your height in metres. Generally, a ‘healthy’ range is around 18.5 to 24.9 (Heart Foundation NZ). Below or above this range is usually regarded as moving into the ‘unhealthy’ zone. The unhealthier a person is perceived to be, the higher the risk of an earlier-than-average death and the higher that person's insurance premiums will be. Using BMI as an indicator has its inaccuracies, so that’s why we also look at other factors as well.
At Pinnacle Life we’ve tried to keep the next set of questions easy to answer. There’s about 3 per page and it takes most people less than 10 minutes to get through them. If your health is straight forward these will be easy to answer, but it can take longer if you’ve had a few issues and you’re trying to remember the details.
They cover things like:
- Have you had cancer?
- Have you ever been diagnosed with diabetes?
- Do you have any blood disorder?
- Have you ever been diagnosed with high blood pressure?
- Have you ever been diagnosed with high cholesterol?
- Have you ever had a heart or vascular problem, for example, a stroke, a heart attack?
- Have you had any gastrointestinal problems?
- Have you been diagnosed with a kidney or bladder problem?
- Have you ever been diagnosed with a breathing or lung problem?
- Have you ever been diagnosed with a neurological disorder, for example, RSI, chronic fatigue?
- Have you ever been diagnosed with a muscular-skeletal or joint problem for example arthritis, or gout?
- Within the past 5 years have you had any mental health or psychological issues that required professional advice, treatment or time off work?
As well as your health we also look at your lifestyle. This is to help us understand whether the things you (like to) do, are increasing your risk of an earlier than average death compared to other people the same age. We ask:
- How about how much alcohol you drink
- Whether you’ve used illegal drugs in the last 5 years
- Whether you’re infected or likely to be infected with HIV
- If you do a risky occupation, for example, do you handle explosives, fly helicopters, or are you a professional stunt person
- If you do risky things for recreation, like powerboat racing, mountaineering or skydiving
We’re not trying to penalise anybody for their lifestyle choices, we’re trying to assess risk so we can offer and price, life cover accordingly. Since 2015 the statistics on who receives our discount are pretty consistent, so we’re pretty confident that at least 30% of our customers qualify. Even if you don’t qualify for the discount you may still be able to get cover straight away unless we need further information from you or your doctor.
