How do medical tests work at Sanlam Indie?

Will I have to do a medical test?

We don’t ask any medical questions or do any tests for Funeral Cover.

It’s different for some of our underwritten products. We do select some clients for medical tests for Life Cover, Disability Cover, Income Protection and Critical Illness Cover. You’ll be notified during our online quote process if you’re selected.

You may also have to complete a medical test if you make any changes to your underwritten benefits, or if you add other products or benefits to your policy (excluding Funeral Cover).

Where do I get my medical test?

Our service provider, Nurses on Wheels, will call you to set up an appointment. They’ll come to you if you’re in a major city, or we’ll tell you where to go.‍

What tests are involved?

In most cases, you’ll get either a cotinine test (to determine smoking habits), or an HIV test. Sometimes we’ll measure your height or weight to get your BMI. Depending on what we need, the test could take the form of a simple saliva swab, a urine test, or a blood test. 

How long do I have to get tested?

You have 3 months to get tested. If you don’t get the required tests within 3 months, we’ll automatically make some adjustments to your policy.

Depending on which tests you were supposed to get, might mean that your cover decreases or it could mean that we cancel your policy outright. 

What happens if my medical results show something different to what I declared?

We’ll correct your premium and cover according to the test results. So, if you told us that you didn’t smoke, and your test results say you do, your cover will decrease.

In some cases, we might find that we wouldn’t have offered you some benefits at all if we had had all the facts. We’d then have to cancel those benefits. If you only had those benefits in your policy with us, it could mean that your whole policy is cancelled.

If you have Funeral Cover with us, this won’t be affected by your medical test results at all.‍

If my policy is cancelled as a result of my medicals, will I be refunded?

We’ll assess each individual case, but in general, if this happens to you then we probably won’t refund the premiums you’ve paid so far. 

This is because, for any insurance policy, an insurer operates at a loss for at least the first year. So your cancelled policy will have cost us some cash. 

Since we’re entitled to deduct our expenses in issuing the policy to you in the first place, in most cases, if your policy is cancelled due to non-disclosure within a few months of being issued, you won’t be entitled to any refund.

Remember that you ARE entitled to a full refund if you cancel your policy within 31 days after you took out the policy.