Living with HIV means that you will have additional considerations when it comes to insurance products. Fortunately many insurers still cater for HIV positive people with specialised insurance products and longer waiting periods on traditional financial services.
An HIV funeral plan is no different. Most insurers will cover people with HIV and AIDS but there are criteria that will restrict a quick payout. It is therefore important to be aware of these conditions and also ensure that you take out funeral insurance as early as possible so that your family can claim at the time of your death.
HIV Waiting Period
Most insurers have a 24 month waiting period in place for pre-existing conditions and if your insurer also covers HIV then this waiting period will be applicable. A pre-existing condition waiting period applies to a host of diseases including heart disease, diabetes, strokes and so on. HIV is one of these.
It simply means that if you are HIV positive at the time of signing up for funeral insurance cover then you can not claim for at least 24 months from the date of inception of the policy. You will still have to pay your monthly premiums within these 24 months.
Insurers are aware that some claimants may have been dishonest and not revealed their HIV status as part of the initial disclosure. Beware of doing so. The insurer may be able to prove your HIV status and then outright refuse any claim thereafter. It is therefore always to be honest and upfront with your insurer.
The natural death waiting period is only 12 months and this applies for any cause of natural death provided that the cause did not exist at the time of signing up for the policy. Accidental death is another factor altogether as it is unforeseen and some insurers may waive all waiting periods for claims related to accidental death.
Costs of HIV Funeral Cover
HIV insurance products may cost extra and there is a reason why insurers may charge higher rates. First and foremost there is the significant health risks associated with HIV, by way of opportunistic infections, that can lead to fatal outcomes. This is a fact of HIV and AIDS.
Secondly, some insurers will cover people living with HIV but may not ask for an immune screen to verify the progression of the disease at the time of underwriting. In other words the insurer may not necessarily ask you for your CD4 cell count level or viral load. Instead the insurer takes the risk and a high risk is offset to some degree by higher premiums and longer waiting periods.
It is therefore important to discuss these factors with your insurer. The fact that you are HIV positive may not exclude you outright. However, people living with AIDS may experience greater difficulty in this regard as their CD4 levels may be too low, the viral load may be too high or they may need to claim well before the waiting period ceases.
Fortunately funeral insurance products are not as strict when it comes to covering HIV positive people but this does not mean that you should not be open and honest at the outset. Funeral plans allow your family to afford the final goodbye that they would want to give you without financially crippling themselves thereafter. It is therefore advisable to have funeral cover, irrespective of whether you are HIV positive or not.