What is fully underwritten life insurance?

When you apply for Life Insurance with NobleOak, your application will be assessed by a NobleOak underwriter – their job is to evaluate the risk of insuring you. They’re also responsible for determining the terms, conditions, and premiums of your Life Insurance policy based on the rules and guidelines set by NobleOak.

Here, we’ll explain what underwritten insurance is, so you can make a decision that best suits your circumstances. This guide will also provide information about the following:

• Underwritten meaning in insurance
• Who conducts underwriting?
• Types of underwritten Life Insurance
• Fully underwritten Life Insurance
• Partially underwritten Life Insurance
• Benefits of fully underwritten Life Insurance
• How does fully underwritten Life Insurance work?
• The steps in the underwriting process

What does ‘underwritten’ mean in Life Insurance?

So, what is underwritten life insurance? Essentially, it’s a type of Life Insurance where the risk level of the individual policyholder is assessed upon application by asking a series of medical and lifestyle questions.

The term ‘underwritten’ refers to the process insurers use to evaluate how risky it might be to provide an applicant with an insurance policy. Once the evaluation has been conducted, the insurer will be able to determine the terms, coverage amount, and premium for the policy.

Who conducts underwriting?

Underwriting in insurance is performed by industry professionals known as underwriters. These experts determine whether an insurer can provide coverage to individuals, families, or businesses and how much this cover will cost the individual by evaluating the risks involved in insuring them.

NobleOak’s team of underwriters provide fully underwritten insurance to customers. strive to offer our customers competitive Life Insurance premiums. The underwriting process ensures our policies provide tailored coverage as they are based on your individual circumstances as opposed to partially underwritten policies or policies without any form of underwriting.

Types of underwritten Life Insurance

In this section we’ll look at two types of underwritten Life Insurance:

• Fully underwritten Life Insurance
• Partially underwritten Life Insurance

Fully underwritten Life Insurance

With fully underwritten Life Insurance, the insurer employs an underwriter to thoroughly assess the risk of providing coverage to an applicant. During the underwriting process, a number of factors are assessed. These include:

• Age
• Health
• Medical history
• Lifestyle
• Hobbies
• Occupation

This information helps the underwriter gauge the likelihood of a claim being made. For example, if the applicant is a heavy smoker, they will be considered higher risk compared with a non-smoker.

NobleOak offers Life Insurance that’s fully underwritten, meaning we will ask a number of health, occupation, and lifestyle questions upfront when you apply for Life Insurance. You might also be required in some cases to undergo a medical exam. The costs associated with these requests are usually covered by NobleOak.

This process does take longer than cover that is not underwritten or partially underwritten, but results in greater certainty about the risks we’re taking to insure you so the costs of your cover are tailored to your circumstances– and often can often enable greater certainty for you at claim time as you know any exclusions which are not included in your policy.

Partially underwritten Life Insurance

Other insurers may ask only a few questions when you apply for Life Insurance – these are called ‘partially’ underwritten policies. In these cases, the cost of the policy is based only partially on your individual circumstances.

Partially underwritten Life Insurance policies do not require a detailed health assessment or medical exam during the application process. These policies are typically designed for quick approval and are often marketed as ‘guaranteed acceptance’ or ‘no medical exam’ insurance.

While they provide a convenient option for those seeking immediate coverage, partially underwritten policies usually come with higher premiums, lower coverage limits, and stricter exclusions. For instance, policies that are partially underwritten often contain automatic exclusion clauses which apply to pre-existing medical conditions. In short, this means that any medical condition for which you have received treatment is likely to be excluded from your policy. Death caused by this condition may result in a claim being declined.

Some insurance companies will exclude all pre-existing conditions from coverage, even though you may not have had treatment in the past 20 years. This is what’s known as a total pre-existing exclusion clause (PEC). These types of policies (that are not underwritten) often result in the Life insurance company performing a more detailed review at the time of a claim arising, and this process will nearly always delay payment of the claim, or the claim may be declined if the cause of the claim is covered by the PEC.

Fully underwritten Life Insurance policies are assessed upfront, whereas with partially underwritten policies the assessment is made mainly at the time of claim. Although it can be quicker to obtain a partially underwritten Life Insurance policy, the downside is the insurer might charge higher premiums to compensate for being unable to fully evaluate the risk profile of the applicant or they will base it on the ‘average risk’ across the population.

Learn more here: Can I Get Life Insurance Without a Medical Exam?

Benefits of fully underwritten Life Insurance

Here are the key benefits of fully underwritten Life Insurance:

• More certainty at claims time: Because the insurer already has details on your medical and lifestyle circumstances and has allowed for this when issuing your policy, there will be a greater likelihood of a claim being approved.
• More tailored coverage: The more information you provide at the time of application, the more tailored your insurance coverage will be. This ensures comprehensive protection that suits your situation.
• Often – more competitive premiums: Fully underwritten insurance premiums are calculated based on your specific health and lifestyle details, so if you’re relatively healthy, the cost will likely be lower (compared with partial or non-underwritten cover).

How does fully underwritten Life Insurance work?

What is underwritten insurance and how does it work? This video explains why NobleOak offers fully underwritten Life Insurance policies:

The steps in the underwriting process

Here are the key stages of the underwriting process at NobleOak:

1. Application submission: The process begins when a new Life Insurance application is submitted. Applications can be completed over the phone, or in some cases, online. You may also need to provide certain documents (such as proof of identity and medical records) and in some cases, undergo a medical exam.
2. Application assessment: One of our underwriters will assess the application – if they decide more information is needed, the NobleOak team will be in touch. If exclusions or loadings for certain medical conditions are required, our team will let you know and you can decide whether or not you want to proceed.
3. Outcome: If the underwriter approves your application, we will provide instructions for paying your initial fee and you will be issued with your policy certificate. Then you can sit back and relax, knowing you’re covered!

Genetic testing and its role in underwriting

We know that you may be wondering about genetic testing and whether insurance underwriters can access any genetic testing you may have undertaken or are considering undertaking. This is something that you don’t have to worry about as the Australian Government announced on 11 September 2024* that the use of genetic test results in insurance underwriting is prohibited. This law was passed to help Australians feel more confident to undertake genetic testing or participate in scientific research.

Enjoy fully underwritten cover with NobleOak 

We’re dedicated to providing the best possible customer service for our customers, from the initial application through to making a claim.

With a legacy of simplicity and reliability, NobleOak remains a trusted provider for individuals and families seeking quality insurance cover. To take the next step, it’s easy to start a quote online. You can also contact us or call 1300 041 494 to speak to one of our knowledgeable insurance experts.

More information about underwriting, the meaning of insurance terms, and more can be found in our guides:

• These are some of the big mistakes that could stop you from finding the right Life Insurance in Australia
• Life Insurance medical exams: what to expect & how to prepare
• When should you consider taking out Life Insurance?

*Sourced from: The 2025 Council of Australian Life Insurers (CALI)

https://cali.org.au/policy/genetic-testing/#:~:text=CALI%20welcomes%20the%20Australian%20Government’s,or%20participate%20in%20scientific%20research

Any financial product advice is general in nature only and does not take into account your individual circumstances, objectives, financial situation, or needs. Before acting on it, please consider the appropriateness of the information, having regard to those factors. Any third party websites or tools referred to are subject to their own terms and conditions and NobleOak Life Limited makes no representation or warranty as to any information on those websites. Persons deciding whether to acquire or continue to hold life insurance issued by NobleOak Life Limited should consider the relevant Product Disclosure Statement and Target Market Determination for the product. NobleOak Life Limited ABN 85 087 648 708 AFSL 247302.