I'll go for it! Most importantly, health questions for occupational disability insurance are. Only when I know whether I will be accepted outright or face an exclusion or surcharge can I check which disability insurance company has the better terms for me. Because an occupational disability insurance policy without exclusion is always better than one with.
And so that it does not come to exclusion or surcharge, you will find here even a few tips🙂
Why are there health questions in occupational disability insurance??
The risk assessor decides with the health questions in the occupational disability insurance whether I have an increased probability of becoming unable to work later on. If I have a pre-existing condition that can be narrowed down well, disability insurance usually works with an exclusion. Therefore a knee damage or a missing finger is simply excluded. If I want to prove my occupational disability, the knee or the finger remain unconsidered.
It is different z.B. with an increased BMI. Regardless of the fact that the measurement is outdated, the consequences of being overweight are difficult for the risk assessor to assess. Therefore there is a surcharge here. That means I have to pay more premium so that my risk is well calculated. In the event of a claim, the insurer must prove that an exclusion applies. If this is not clear, then the exclusion does not apply. And there are hardly any diseases that can be clearly traced back to an increased BMI. Even skinny people have a heart disease or something like that. In order to avoid a legal dispute, there is the surcharge.
Can I answer health questions incorrectly in the occupational disability insurance??
That happens faster than you think. Because health questions in the occupational disability insurance have their own laws. But the mistakes you can make are all avoidable.
Basically, you should be aware that the health questions in the occupational disability insurance do not apply the same standards as a doctor. For the doctor you are healthy if you don't need to be treated at the moment. For the occupational disability insurance, you are healthy if you have no increased risk of becoming unable to work in the next 20 or 30 or even 40 years. That's why you feel healthy after a skiing accident 3 years ago. However, the risk assessor would like to know whether a joint was affected. And if the doctor's report states that the knee joint shows signs of traumatic osteoarthritis, then the occupational disability insurance will exclude the knee, even though you may never have to see a doctor about it again.
What are the expert tips?
Therefore, you should not decide for yourself how to answer health questions in the occupational disability insurance. But if no one helps you, then I'll give you a few tips:
- Every illness is to be indicated, which does not have anyway everyone times and which heals by itself without consequences again. Period pains do not have to be stated, even if not everyone has them. Sounds stupid, but that's how it is. There are a lot of judgments about the so-called trivial illnesses.
- Note the question periods. If you have broken your leg 11 years ago and it has healed since then without consequences and symptoms, you do not have to specify it when only asked about complaints or treatments in the last 10 years. But if the leg is gone or you still have pain from time to time because of it, then you have to declare it.
- This point is rather my opinion… I represent however also the other opinion. I think you should not necessarily answer the health questions according to the wording. Let's assume that the occupational disability insurance only asks about treatments and not about complaints, then I could still quickly conclude an application, covered in blood. Or if they only ask for 14 days of sick leave and I've just been on sick leave for 10 days, but it's already clear that I won't be fit for the next few months.
I only have to state what the insurer asks for in text form. So it's not my fault if the questions are asked so stupidly.
That is absolutely correct, but I am also sure that it will then go to court in the event of a claim. Because there probably applies the Civil Code §242. And there it says translated that I as an insured should try not to BU and the insurer tries everything to then also be able to perform.
Furthermore, it would be easy for the occupational disability insurance to claim that I fraudulently concealed a risk-relevant circumstance. Because in the Bundestagsdrucksache 16/3945 stands on the page 64 that with bad cunning also then the concealment of risk-relevant circumstances can lead to the rescission, if the insurer did not ask or only verbally about it.
And because I personally as an agent do not want my customers to have to go to court in the event of a claim, I advise not to overdo it when answering the health questions for occupational disability insurance. A lawyer friend of mine is rather of the opinion that the insurer intentionally asks the health questions the way he does. He wants to do business and therefore takes the risk to formulate the health questions differently than normal. And that he must then also answer for.
This is legitimate and I think my buddy would win all the cases too. And still I want to sell BU insurances, which then do not go to court. It's annoying when I win in the end, in all the time until I'm ready. - The important thing is that you present everything to the underwriter so that he can decide. There should be no room for interpretation. In the case of medication, you should state the name, the dose and the frequency with which you take it. The wording "if required" is stupid. You think that you use the spray only once a year during the pollen season, the risk assessor thinks of 3 times a day. And you already have a bad previous illness, which is excluded.
- If you have taken a sick leave, then you should ask the doctor what is written in the file. Because he must then "invent" an illness, so that you can be written off sick.
- Almost everything that is wrongly written in the file can be solved by a personal statement from yourself. Just write in your words what went wrong there.
- If you are not sure, better specify and make an anonymous preliminary request. In the health questions for disability insurance, you do not have to specify everything, but it is better to ask once too much, than to leave out something that would have been important.
- Most important with the health questions with the occupational disability insurance: Do not lie! Because lying is not worth it. Never!
And also very important: When you make the application, do not forget a signature or a mandatory field. If there is something missing, a declaration of acceptance comes back. You have to sign and/or fill in the field. And then you have to confirm that no previous illness has occurred in the meantime. May not happen often. But if, then that is so annoying. Because then you can probably wait another year…
Is there anything I do not have to declare?
There is already something. So, z.B. everything that falls under §18 of the Genetic Diagnostics Act. Should you have less than 2.If you want to insure 500 Euro BU pension and you know about a genetic defect that was only tested because you have a family history or it came out by chance, then you do not have to declare it. If you have more than 2.If you insure 500 Euro BU pension or if you have ever had complaints that are related to the genetic pre-setting, then you have to declare it.
Everything that lies outside the query period and has been free of treatment and symptoms since then. Exceptions are diseases that come in spurts. Multiple sclerosis would be something like that. You would need a doctor to disprove a suspicion at that time.
And anything that would violate the General Equality Act does not have to be stated as a rule. If you z.B. If you are pregnant or have just been pregnant, it's okay to add "weight before pregnancy" to your weight. No insurer is allowed to ask what you weigh.
I once read about the spontaneous duty of disclosure…
In principle, the spontaneous reporting requirement no longer exists since 2008. As written above, you only need to specify what the insurer asks for in text form.
But, somewhere in an old Indian graveyard, the spontaneous duty of disclosure lives on. On the one hand, as already described above, with the brought in occupational disability. If one is already as good as BU, I must say that. Even if the insurer does not ask for it. I always explain this with the burning house. A burning house is not insurable against fire. Neither does an intact house standing in the middle of a burning forest.
Beyond that, spontaneous disclosure is only possible if what is being concealed is very obviously relevant, but so extraordinary that the insurer can't ask about it. I don't think any illnesses are possible. The only case I know is from the residential building insurance. A convicted arsonist has taken out an insurance policy. The house then burned down and the insurer did not pay. If he had known about the arsonist, he would not have offered insurance. However, to ask about this is also strange, somehow…
Translated to the health questions with the occupational disability insurance would have to be asked for an insurance fraudster.
What about abbreviated health questions in occupational disability insurance??
There applies also that with the brought in occupational disability. If I'm already almost BU, then I'm not allowed to purchase the insurance.
It is more difficult if the contract runs through the employer and only the sick notes are asked for. The employer cannot know this.
Nevertheless, I think this will go to court. Because it is just again against good faith if you then accept the contract.
But what if I answer the health questions in the occupational disability insurance to the best of my knowledge and then there is some crap in the file?
Much helps much?
The fear of hidden diagnoses in the file is widespread. And in fact, doctors settle accounts every now and then as a courtesy. As already written above, this is mainly the case when I take a sick leave because the boss is annoying or I want to go on vacation earlier. Sometimes doctors bill to enrich themselves. But this is rather the exception.
That is why it is usually sufficient to check the file only when I have taken a sick leave.
If I was so often at the doctor that I no longer know what diseases that have not healed on their own, I had the last 5-10 years, then the application for disability insurance is probably a little more difficult anyway.
But if a diagnosis slips through my fingers, which the doctor has made without me having been treated for it, then the occupational disability insurance will find it very difficult to pull the wool over my eyes. Because there is actually no serious illness that does not need to be treated. The insurers only have a chance if I forget a hospitalization, a longer medication or just sick leave. And there it is in each case about illnesses or injuries that were so severe that I remember.
But if you still want to go through the whole file to be on the safe side, you can do that. However, everything in there must be explained to the insurer. And that can then either result in me having over 10 pages of documents that I need for a preliminary application, which some insurers no longer process.
Or it may be that there are so many courtesy or billing diagnoses that the disability insurance is too scared and then refuses or sets a few exclusions.
But there is just no obligation to collect the file. Non-medical people can't do much with it anyway. And no one can force me to know all this.
Help several contracts to avoid a closer examination?
Multi-contract solutions can help you with the health questions with the occupational disability insurance also times. From 2.501 Euro pension or for some from 3.001 euros, a medical certificate is necessary. There can come out then also what was unknown to you so far.
Now, many recommend that you then simply purchase 2 policies with 2.you can make 500 Euro and save the medical certificate. That's right. If, however, in the event of a claim, the suspicion arises that something has been concealed, then this action already looks like malice. I wanted to avoid asking the doctor on purpose.
If you are concerned about time, then this is not an argument. For one thing, the doctor prepares the certificate without you, and even if a lab were due, there are providers who send someone to your home or work to do the lab on the spot with you.
And I make also times 2 contracts. But then mostly because the subsequent insurance guarantees are often limited to 2.500 euros and 2 contracts are limited to 5 euros.000 euros.
Oh yes… And none of this helps with financial underwriting. When the disability insurance checks if you earn enough to get the BU pension in the amount you want, then all contracts you have are added together.
Doesn't everything matter with the health questions on disability insurance after 10 years?
Yes, well… There is a verdict that proves this very impressively. Deception is subject to a 10-year statute of limitations. Still, you shouldn't lie on health questions for disability insurance. Because it would not be morally ok. And because it is just ne bet with 10 annual contributions use. Assuming I become disabled after 6 years and then wait another 4 years before I apply for the pension, then I must survive 4 years without income and continue to pay the premiums. I don't know if this always works..
In addition, fraud according to the penal code does not expire in this case, as long as the contract is running. So far, however, I am not aware of any case where the occupational disability insurance company has been able to prove fraud. If an intermediary should accompany this, however, then fraud should be quite easy to prove. So you won't find anyone to guide you through it…