That Home Loan Hub
Welcome to That Home Loan Hub, your ultimate guide to mastering the world of home loans and property. I'm Zebunisso Alimova, here to simplify the complexities of real estate and provide you with expert insights and the latest trends.
Whether you're a first-time homebuyer, an experienced investor, or simply curious about the property market, this podcast is for you. Join me each week as we unlock the secrets to property success and help you make informed decisions. Let's dive into the world of property together!
That Home Loan Hub
Clear Medical Disclosure Today Prevents Heartache Tomorrow
One small omission on an insurance form can snowball into a denied claim when you need help most. We dive into the real meaning of disclosure for health-related risk cover, why non-disclosure shows up at claim time, and how to build a simple, future-proof record of your medical history so underwriters see a clear and credible story.
We start by stripping away the jargon: disclosure is just your answers to medical and occupation questions, and those answers must align with what’s in your medical notes. You’ll hear a striking case where a specific injury claim for a broken leg ran into trouble due to undisclosed high cholesterol. The Ombudsman ultimately helped get the payout, but the stress was avoidable—and that’s the point. Insurers operate in a competitive market and want to pay credible claims; your job is to make credibility easy by over-disclosing and letting underwriting weigh the risk.
From there, we get practical. We share how advisers coach applicants through tricky “ever had” questions, why online DIY forms can miss critical nuance, and what good disclosure looks like from birth to the application date. Parents will pick up simple, time-saving systems: labelled folders for ACC letters and reports, annotated notes on vague form letters, cloud photo archives with searchable tags, and even dedicated email addresses for each child so a complete health timeline is ready at 18. Migrants will learn how to handle overseas medical notes, what immigration medicals do and don’t cover, and how to document gaps honestly when records are hard to retrieve.
We wrap with exclusions and loadings—the rules for when they’re applied, and how to get them reviewed or removed. Think practical timelines: twelve months post-surgery with no complications, maintained weight loss with blood pressure and cholesterol evidence, and written criteria from the underwriter so you know exactly what to aim for. Some conditions remain excluded, but many improve with structured follow-up. If you want your future claim paid without drama, start with complete answers now, keep clean records, and plan periodic reviews. Enjoy the conversation, and if it helps, share it with someone who’s filling out a form today. Subscribe, leave a review, and tell us the best record-keeping tip you swear by.
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Hello and welcome back to that Homeland Hub. Blake has come back with another story. Third time. Third time like it. Blake, so lovely to have you back. Thank you so much for not running away.
SPEAKER_00:That's okay.
SPEAKER_01:Because you've never done this before, have you? Podcasting.
SPEAKER_00:Yes. No, but I I've had conversations every day. It's pretty much the same thing, isn't it?
SPEAKER_01:That's always so natural at it. That's awesome. Sometimes people come and they're very nervous. But thank you. Good to see that you're not. Blake, what are we talking about today?
SPEAKER_00:So I thought we could touch on disclosure and the importance of disclosure and what that means and what non-disclosure is.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, okay. That's a fancy word.
SPEAKER_00:Sounds very, very informative, doesn't it?
SPEAKER_01:What is non-disclosure? Let's start there.
SPEAKER_00:So, well, disclosure is probably a better place to start.
SPEAKER_01:Let's go the other way. What is disclosure?
SPEAKER_00:Disclosure, yeah. So disclosure basically, whenever you fill in an application for insurance, I'm talking about risk insurance to do with your health. You always have to disclose medical questions. And depending on what you're applying for, maybe occupation questions. So disclosure is the answers that you give. And it's super important that you make those disclosures as clear and as accurate as possible. What non-disclosure is, it's when you haven't disclosed something that you should have disclosed and it comes up in your medical history. A lot of the time non-disclosure comes up when a claim arises. And that can lead to your claim being cancelled, and sometimes your cover being cancelled. So it's not a good situation to be in. So part of my job, and I always take the time of applying if anyone's applying with insurance with myself, I always take the time to coach them through the application process and to pull out non-disclosure at that point in time to avoid any unnecessary stress in the future when if a claim arises when you actually need the insurance that you're that you're that you've been talking about. So I guess a few examples of of non-disclosure is I this wasn't one of my clients, but it was close within the industry, so I know all about the story. But this person had a broken leg. They had what they call a specific injury policy. So specific injury pays you a lump sum of money if you have some kind of defined injury. In this case, it should have paid 15,000 for a broken leg. Puts in the claim, claims declined. Covers cancelled. We don't want you as a client anymore. So that was actually very harsh. And that was because there was a history of high cholesterol found in the medical notes that were provided when assessing the broken leg claim. So totally unrelated. Whoa. So that's that's scary, not to mention the stress that puts on people, especially when you pay a lot of premiums over the years. Now, in this particular case, the insurer got involved with the ombudsman, ombudsman's sorry, got involved with the insurance, uh, with the insurer, and this client, not one of my clients, had a bit of help in the background and it was overturned and the claim was paid.
SPEAKER_01:Wow.
SPEAKER_00:A lot of the time, common for through my experience, common sense does prevail with insurers because despite what you might think, they do want to pay claims. It's a very competitive market. If you're not paying claims and you don't have a competitive claims rating, you're not going to last long. So it's important that claims are paid and that you disclose uh everything in your medical history to avoid such a situation. Even though this was a good outcome in the end, the stress that it I could see and uh that it provided for this family wasn't was unnecessary and it could have been avoided. So back to the original point, you must disclose everything from the day you're born till today.
SPEAKER_01:What happens if people don't remember things that happened to them?
SPEAKER_00:And that happens a lot. And that's where I say uh common sense does usually prevail.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:But for that example there, a history of high cholesterol. Surely they wouldn't know. You know you've had high cholesterol. When I specifically ask the question, have you ever had elevated cholesterol? So you've got to be careful, and and a lot of people might not be trying to beat the system, so to speak. They might just over what I find is they overlook the importance of the answer, or oh, I haven't had high cholesterol for 10 years, so it's not an issue. That's from the day you're born to the date of the application.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:And that's really important to understand. And that's that's where a lot of people who go online and take out insurance, I worry, because they're not getting advice. Same. And you'll be signing a waiver that that's okay. And then come claim time. Come claim time. I mean, that's not even we're not even going to get into what cover you might have taken because you don't know if that cover's right for you or not, unless you've done some thorough research. But the claim aspect is really big. Like, pretty much seven times out of ten applications, I have to tell coach people to go, no, no, we need to mention that, we need to do this, we need to do that. So it's human nature, and as I say, it's not necessarily people trying to pull the wool over the insurer's eyes. Because a lot of most people, you know, what aren't like that, they're honest people. But it's just maybe it's a kiwi attitude of just she'll be right, or just the blase approach to it.
SPEAKER_01:I think it's a blase approach, to be honest, because I see it a lot in the mortgage industry where we ask people, do you have any debt? Yeah. And they go, No. Do you have any other liabilities? They go, no. Then you go, Do you have a credit card? And they're like, Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:And you're like, Well, that's your debt and liabilities. They just don't see it. They don't see it. And I think the same with insurances sometimes you ask them questions. It's like, um, do you experience, you know, headaches, migraines, etc. And they're like, no. But the question is, ever have you ever experienced the symptoms? And people don't think of ever.
SPEAKER_00:Yep. Or they broke their leg when they were 10 and they don't think that they need to disclose it. And it might seem silly, but I'm big on making sure you over-disclose. And if you really are unsure about something, state that look, I've disclosed to them the best of my ability. If there's anything else, please write to my medical doctor to understand.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Or it might be something more specific. And then that covers you to a degree.
SPEAKER_01:What um tips? Oh my god, my head is spinning in two different directions. I want to ask you this question. Two different questions. Completely.
SPEAKER_00:One at a time, please. One at a time.
SPEAKER_01:Okay. What tips would you have for parents of children? I'm just thinking of my own kids, and like literally every week um one of my kids is doing something to their body. What tips would you have in that regard to keep track of these things? Because when they turn 18 and or 20 and they decide to take a life insurance or whatever mortgage insurances they'll get, um, how can I help them to make sure they disclose everything?
SPEAKER_00:Medical notes is a big one, right? It generally states anything that's serious. Um so that's the line in the sand, I think. I guess you're just gonna have to bring no specific tips, really. Just make sure you note stuff down and remember it.
SPEAKER_01:So I thought of this, I thought of this really cool thing where um, well, for one, I've got manual folders for each child. So every time there's an ACC letter. Yeah, I've got four kids, I can't keep up. Yeah, yeah. So um they all have a folder, and let's say ACC letter arrives. And did you notice ACC letters? It just says, We're sorry to hear about your injury. It does not state what injury that was. Yeah. So what I normally would do is I'll write on the letter itself what it was. Yeah. So then at least I'll remember, I usually would take a picture of it as well. Yes. So then I have a photo evidence. And a picture. And a picture will just in case. Yeah. And then I file it into their folder. But with the picture, what I was thinking the other day, what I will do, and I've been thinking about it for years, but I think I should do it. I want to set up an email under each child's name. Yes. Obviously, I'm still the owner of those emails, and email those things to that email. So when they turn 18, they can take over that email, and anything important should be in that email.
SPEAKER_00:That's a great idea.
SPEAKER_01:How cool is that?
SPEAKER_00:That's very cool. It could be a business idea there too.
SPEAKER_01:Well, there you go. Um, stop giving me business ideas. I've got them coming out of my ears. Yeah, but that I thought that's a really cool tip for um people that are busy, people that can't keep up, people that move a lot. Yeah, you know, like you could keep things electronically. Um, the other thing I do is also upload it onto my Google Photos album.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:And you can go and name a file. So then I can search for my child's name, ACC, and then hopefully that will bring up things. Yeah. So um, yeah, just filing is very important, I think, because kids will grow up, they won't remember all their fractures that they're having at the moment.
SPEAKER_00:And well, with AI, it can do it all for you now, right? Exactly. So it won't even be hard to do, but that that is a really good tip. I I think for those little, you know, those little injuries that happen when you're kids, it's it's definitely more the bigger stuff that will get you into into trouble. But it it's just yeah, I think if you can show and ensure that you're disclosing everything to the best of your ability, it goes a long way as well.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:You know, they can see that you've disclosed this, this, that, and that in your medical history and that you may have just forgotten this.
SPEAKER_01:Not avoiding. So the next question I had, which is two questions in my head. So we've covered that. The next one I had is I deal a lot with migrants and they come to New Zealand and then want to take insurance and they don't have medical notes in New Zealand.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:How do we deal with that? So if insurance wants medical notes from their countries, they have to provide it. Wow.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, they're not gonna the insurer won't, to my knowledge, won't go seeking it from overseas. I I mean, if you're immigrant immigrating to another country, that's something that you should be bringing with you, right?
SPEAKER_01:But they normally will do like um immigration healthical medical and stuff.
SPEAKER_00:So that's what's going on now, isn't it? Not what's been going on in the past. So I think for that type of thing, it would just depend what what it is you you might have had in your history. Uh I'm no medical expert by any means. That's an insurer's job, and the underwriting guides will dictate how they'd approach to certain scenarios.
SPEAKER_01:Exactly. Um, awesome. Did you have anything else to add?
SPEAKER_00:No, I think for those listening, make sure you disclose anything in your medical history, don't brush over anything because you're not dealing with it now, it's been some time. You don't want to give an insurer grounds to decline a claim in the future due to non-disclosure.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. And to be honest, most of the time, as you said, you know, common sense prevails. The insurance are quite reasonable people, and um and usually what I've seen is, for instance, uh, even if you've disclosed anything, anything that needs to go to underwriters, they might go, actually, he's fine. Yes, he's had a few things here and there and everywhere, but he's fine. Like, for instance, for me was my eyes. Yeah, um, because my I was quite short-sighted, I've got a lazy eye. Um, there you go, guys. You learn a lot about me. I'm not that perfect. And um, and for instance, I had anything to do with my eyes, was excluded. But now I went and I got eye surgery done last year, and I haven't been back to insurance yet to override it, to remove that.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, and that's part of you know an advisor's job. Well, part of my job, which I'll do for my clients, is if you gain an exclusion, is to get some clarity from the underwriter of that insurance company at the time. What needs to happen for that exclusion to be removed? It might be, so in your case, with the eyes, you need to be 12 months post-surger with no comp with no complications. And then it might be able to review it and remove it, um, depending on what it's for. If it's a loading, which is an increase in premium due to a high BMI, you might have to drop excess weight and maintain that weight loss for 12 months. But along with that, you might have to have your blood pressure checked and your cholesterol checked because it all relates to BMI. It's just understanding what the exclusion is and then what needs to happen to be reviewed. And in some cases, some pre existing conditions can't ever be removed.
SPEAKER_01:Exactly. Yeah. No, awesome. I feel like we need to do a whole episode on exclusions now. There you go. There's your notes. There you go.
SPEAKER_00:Back to Waikano.
SPEAKER_01:You'll be back to Waikano. Blake, thank you so much for coming along today. Oh, you're welcome, man. Really appreciate it. And um see you soon.
SPEAKER_00:Bye.
