Aviva underwriter noticed that one innocent sentence in the doctor memo, and imposed an exclusion in my son’s FOC rider. If I accept it, it becomes official and all insurers in Singapore will likely have access to this information and impose the same exclusion. (Esp. if the other insurers have the same re-insurer as Aviva, then they would see the record for sure.) Any exclusion in an accepted medical insurance plan (not a proposal) is unlikely to be removed, ever. It’s permanent and pervasive like a scar on his nose.

Exclusions, once accepted, are permanent stigmas like a criminal record.

Any underwriter can give a life sentence to any applicant if applicant chooses to accept it. I would tell all my friends to never accept exclusions for a temporary condition. Further I would tell all my friends to never inform underwriters of your conditions.

In 2014 I was stupid to inform Aviva, and till today am paying the price. If underwriter were to worry about the eyes, legs, lungs, testicles, or breasts of every applicant and request medical memo, then 80% of us would show some minor or temporary condition with no long term consequences. These applicants would all get a permanent exclusion (unless you decline). My advice – never inform insurer. If you don’t inform them you get no exclusions. At claim time you can argue the earlier temporary condition was long gong or unrelated to the current claim. Mostly likely a convincing argument, but if you inform the insurer now, you would get endless suspicions and questions. Therefore, the underwriting system punishes the honest (stupid) applicants and reward members who hide their conditions until claim time. I won’t want to be honest with underwriters from now on. Applicants are better of faking and hiding their conditions as long as they can defend themselves later. This system encourages cheating. This is how honest people learn to be dishonest … taught by underwriters.

Action plan — It’s best to wait for his condition to become completely normal (quite likely). Then get a doctor memo, and go to another insurer for an integrated shield with rider. This way I get rid of the exclusion forever.

This email and any attachment is confidential. If you are not the intended recipient, please delete this message. Macquarie does not guarantee the integrity of any emails or attachments. For important disclosures and information about the incorporation and regulated status of Macquarie Group entities please see: www.macquarie.com/disclosures