Written by Henry Smith · Reviewed by Smiths Insurance & KiwiSaver — licensed Financial Advice Provider (FSP712931) · Last updated 2026-10-20

Life Insurance Pricing for Healthy Applicants in NZ

If you are healthy, fully underwritten life cover arranged through a licensed adviser will usually give you more cover for less than a policy that asks no health questions. Underwriting lets an insurer price your actual health, smoking status and build. A guaranteed-acceptance policy such as Momentum's Quick Life prices on age, gender, smoking status and amount only, and restricts the first two years, so it suits people who would struggle to be accepted elsewhere.

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Life cover See your price Ages 18–65 · $50k–$300k Funeral cover See your price Ages 40–75 · $3k–$30k

Want more than $300k or have questions? Talk to an adviser

Life cover: Conditions you already have aren't covered for the first 2 years (premiums refunded instead). Suicide isn't covered for the first 2 years, and a few conditions can be excluded permanently.

Funeral cover: Only accidental death is covered for the first 2 years. Total premiums can add up to more than the cover, and it may not meet the whole cost of a funeral.

Insurer: Momentum Life Limited. Financial strength rating B (Fair) from AM Best, affirmed 11 February 2026; B ratings sit in AM Best's 'vulnerable' range. The rating scale is available for inspection at every Momentum Life office in New Zealand. What this means

Already have cover? Keep it. New cover won't pay for a condition you already have in its first 2 years.

Opens Momentum Life's online application; its guidance only covers eligibility. QuoteHub is a Momentum Life partner. Smiths Insurance & KiwiSaver may receive a commission if you buy. General information, not advice.

In short

Underwriting is how good health gets rewarded: insurers use age, sex, smoker status, build and medical history to set your price and terms.
For a healthy non-smoker, the QuoteHub Premium Index (indicative, 8 September 2026) gives a range across the insurers that priced $500,000 of cover for a man of 40; the table below shows it, and the Premium Index method explains how it is built.
Momentum's Quick Life asks no health questions, starts at $50,000 to $300,000 and excludes pre-existing conditions and suicide for the first 2 years. It is not a bad product; it is built for people who cannot easily buy the underwritten kind.
The extra step for healthy people is usually small: Fidelity and Chubb both publish that cover up to $500,000 needs only an application form at every age band.

Why healthy applicants usually pay less when they are underwritten

Underwriting is the insurer's assessment of how likely you are to claim, made before it agrees to cover you. The result is a decision on your terms: standard rates, a higher premium (a loading), an exclusion, a delay or, for some people, a decline. Asteron describes the ways it adjusts an offer as adding a stand-down, raising the premium, or excluding the condition permanently or for a set time (Asteron).

A guaranteed-acceptance product does the opposite. Quick Life takes applicants aged 18 to 65 who meet the residency rules without health questions or a medical exam (Momentum Life: Quick Life Policy Wording, November 2025). Its premium depends on age, gender, smoking status and benefit amount, not on how healthy you are. The insurer manages the risk it has taken on by capping cover and restricting the first two years rather than by screening. A healthy person is priced on the same four factors as anyone else of the same age, gender and smoking status.

That is the whole logic of this page. If you can pass underwriting at standard rates, a policy that does not assess your health gives you no credit for being healthy. If you cannot, that is the point of it.

What underwriters reward

Several things are published by the insurers themselves.

Not smoking. Fidelity and Chubb both ask for no tobacco and no nicotine replacement (including vaping with nicotine, gum, patches and chewing tobacco) for 12 months to qualify as a non-smoker. Chubb adds that marijuana use of more than once a week can bring a loading (Fidelity FAQ, Chubb underwriting guide, May 2025). Momentum's Quick Life asks for 24 consecutive months before you can move to non-smoker rates.
Build. Fidelity's guide says a BMI above 19 up to 36.9 needs no mandatory medical, and Chubb's says 18 to 36.9, though Chubb adds that a loading for BMI may still apply. Chubb's Lifetime Reward discounts non-smokers with a BMI of 18.5 to 24.99 for the life of the policy (both from the Chubb guide and Fidelity's underwriting guide, October 2025).
A clean cardiovascular picture. Partners Life says it needs no build exam or blood tests up to a BMI of 37.99 for applicants aged 30 or under, and, for life and medical covers, for older applicants with no cardiovascular risk factors. It lists diabetes, cardiovascular conditions, hypertension, hyperlipidaemia, fatty liver, sleep apnoea and a family history of ischaemic heart disease under 55 (RiskinfoNZ, 17 October 2024).
Moderate cover amounts. Fidelity and Chubb need only an application form up to $500,000 at every age band. From $500,001 at 61 and over they start asking for a GP medical or paramedical and blood tests. These are minimums: a disclosed condition can trigger more.

None of this is a promise about your result. Terms depend on the individual and the insurer.

What the Premium Index shows

QuoteHub's Premium Index is built from insurers' published rate cards. These are indicative monthly costs as at 8 September 2026 for stepped (rising each year) cover, occupation class 1, standard rates with no loadings or exclusions, from six insurers. Each figure is a range across the insurers that priced that row, rounded outward. Your own premium depends on underwriting; see a named insurer's own pages, for example Fidelity Life, and our Premium Index method.

Age	$500,000, non-smoker man	non-smoker woman	smoker man	smoker woman
30	$30 to $40	$20 to $30	$50 to $80	$35 to $45
40	$40 to $50	$35 to $40	$90 to $110	$60 to $80
50	$90 to $120	$80 to $100	$200 to $275	$150 to $190

Two readings matter for a healthy person.

Smoking is the largest lever you control. Across the Index, a smoker's $500,000 cost runs about 1.5 to 1.7 times the lowest-priced non-smoker quote in the twenties and thirties, peaking at about 2.2 to 2.4 times in the mid-forties to mid-fifties. QuoteHub's smokers page estimates that staying nicotine-free for 12 months before applying would cut the monthly cost by about 33 to 57 percent at most ages.

Compare at the amount you need. Momentum priced only $250,000 in the Index, because Quick Life tops out at $300,000 per life at the start. Its $250,000 row sits in the same table as the underwritten insurers, so that range is wide: for a 40-year-old non-smoking man it runs from $25 to $70 in the same monthly terms, and the $40 to $50 range for $500,000 above sits inside it. Do not read that as a ranking of any insurer. Different insurers priced different amounts and products, so ask for quotes at the amount you actually need. Our cover amount guide looks at how price changes with the sum insured.

We have not put a percentage on the gap between guaranteed-acceptance and underwritten cover. A figure like "30 to 60 percent more" would need like-for-like quotes for the same person, amount and date, and Momentum publishes no price we can quote.

What you give up with a no-medical policy

If you take Quick Life when you could have been accepted at standard rates elsewhere, you give up:

Price. You pay the pool rate. Quick Life premiums also rise each year with age, and with the 3% annual benefit increase unless you opt out, until 75, then are fixed for the remaining life of the policy.
Amount. Cover is $50,000 to $300,000 per life to start, rising by 3% a year to a cap of $500,000 per life. Many families need more; see how much cover you need.
Early cover for existing conditions. In the first 2 years a death or terminal illness linked to a condition you already had, and suicide or intentional self-harm, are outside Quick Life cover. Premiums are refunded if a pre-existing-condition death in the first 24 months leaves no claim payable. Accidents and conditions that first start after cover begins are covered. Once the 2 years pass, pre-existing conditions are covered too, apart from any specific conditions the policy schedule lists as permanently excluded.
Ongoing exclusions. Quick Life never pays for death caused by the effects of alcohol or drugs (unless a prescribed drug was taken as instructed), war, terrorism, criminal activity, or a dangerous job or pastime listed in the wording.

Underwritten policies have their own limits. Fidelity and Chubb both exclude suicide for 13 months from the start, and every policy has exclusions in its schedule. Read the schedule and the wording of anything you are offered.

When a no-medical policy still makes sense for a healthy person

There are honest reasons to choose guaranteed acceptance even when you are well:

You want cover in place now and the underwriting would delay it.
You have a condition, a family history or a past event you expect to be loaded, postponed or excluded elsewhere. Ask an adviser first, because the answer is often better than people fear and sometimes worse.
You are building a stopgap, for example a small amount while a larger underwritten application runs.
You are comfortable with the amount cap and the 2-year restriction.

If you are in your twenties or thirties with no conditions, a non-smoker, within the build ranges above and want more than $300,000, underwriting is usually the first route worth pricing. For a younger audience, see also life insurance for young adults.

Disclosure matters more when you are underwritten

A cheaper underwritten price depends on honest answers. IFSO case notes show insurers reducing or avoiding claims for non-disclosure, including a stroke claim paid at a reduced amount after loadings were applied retrospectively (IFSO, 10 July 2025). From 15 November 2027 (not yet in force), the Contracts of Insurance Act 2024 changes the test to taking reasonable care not to make a misrepresentation (FMA). Until then, answer completely.

How an adviser fits in

A licensed adviser can ask several insurers for terms on your behalf, explain loadings and exclusions, and compare the offers. Advice on this page is general information, not personal advice. Advice is provided by Craig Smith Business Services Limited, trading as Smiths Insurance & KiwiSaver, a licensed Financial Advice Provider (FSP712931). QuoteHub is a Momentum Life partner. Smiths Insurance & KiwiSaver may receive a commission if you buy through our link; see how we are paid and our disclosure. The FMA says most insurance advisers receive commission from the insurer, built into the premium (FMA: Insurance advice).

Momentum Life Limited holds an A.M. Best Financial Strength Rating of B (Fair), which Momentum's own table places in its "Vulnerable" range; see its financial strength page. If you are looking at a guaranteed-acceptance product, the buttons on this page go to Momentum's plan pages. Read the Quick Life plan page and the comparison of guaranteed acceptance and full medical underwriting first, and see the guaranteed acceptance hub for the wider picture.

Scope. Compared: Momentum Quick Life against fully underwritten cover from the six insurers in the Premium Index (AIA, Asteron Life, Chubb Life, Fidelity Life, Momentum Life, Partners Life), on price, amount, early restrictions and underwriting, as at 20 October 2026, from insurers' published documents and our Premium Index. Not every NZ insurer is included. This is one adviser team's reading, not a score.

Frequently asked questions

Is guaranteed acceptance life insurance more expensive than underwritten cover?

For a healthy person, it usually works out that way. The Premium Index range for $250,000 is wide once Quick Life is included with the underwritten insurers, and the range for $500,000 underwritten cover for a 40-year-old non-smoking man sits inside it. Prices move and your own premium depends on underwriting, so get quotes at your own amount.

Do healthy people need a medical exam for life insurance in NZ?

Often not. Fidelity and Chubb both publish that cover up to $500,000 needs only an application form at every age band, though a disclosed condition can lead to more questions or tests.

Can I switch from Quick Life to underwritten cover later?

You can apply to another insurer at any time. Keep the existing policy until the new one is in force, and watch for new exclusions and waiting periods (FMA). Cancelling Quick Life and returning later restarts its 2-year restriction.

Does being healthy guarantee a low premium?

No. Age, sex, smoking, build, occupation and the cover amount all matter, and an insurer can still load or exclude for a family history or a past condition. The Index shows ranges, not your price.

References

Momentum Life: Quick Life Insurance Policy Wording (November 2025), retrieved 17 October 2026
Momentum Life: Financial strength, retrieved 20 October 2026
Chubb: Essential underwriting guide (May 2025), retrieved 20 October 2026
Fidelity Life: Underwriting guide (October 2025), retrieved 20 October 2026
Fidelity Life: Life cover, retrieved 20 October 2026
Fidelity Life: FAQ, retrieved 20 October 2026
Asteron Life: Insurance options for pre-existing conditions, retrieved 20 October 2026
RiskinfoNZ: Partners Life underwriting enhancements (17 October 2024), retrieved 20 October 2026
IFSO: Non-disclosure case, retrieved 20 October 2026
FMA: Contracts of Insurance Act 2024, retrieved 20 October 2026
FMA: Insurance advice, retrieved 20 October 2026
FMA: Insurance, retrieved 20 October 2026