No-health-question life cover options over 70

Written by Henry Smith · Reviewed by Smiths Insurance & KiwiSaver, licensed Financial Advice Provider (FSP712931) · Updated 2026-10-20 · Reviewed quarterly, when the underlying data is restated.

Financial advice is provided by Craig Smith Business Services Limited, trading as Smiths Insurance & KiwiSaver, a licensed Financial Advice Provider (FSP712931). QuoteHub is a trading name.

Over 70, only one of Momentum Life's two no-health-question products is open to a new applicant: Funeral Insurance, for ages 40 to 75. It pays a fixed benefit of $3,000 to $30,000, and in its first 24 months it pays only for accidental death. Quick Life, Momentum's larger life cover, stops accepting applicants at 65, so it is not an option at 70 or 71.

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

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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.

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.

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.

Guaranteed acceptance life insurance is cover issued without health questions or a medical exam. Over 70 the choice narrows for two reasons. The larger products have lower entry ages: Quick Life is open to ages 18 to 65, and Funeral Insurance to 40 to 75. And every guaranteed-acceptance funeral policy we checked limits its early months to accidental death. Momentum's Funeral Insurance has no pre-existing-condition clause, but in the first 24 months any death that is not an accident pays no benefit, and the premiums for that person are refunded. "No medical exam" is also not always the same as "no health questions". Fidelity Life's underwriting guide lists an application form alone as the minimum evidence up to $500,000 at every age band, and its life cover takes applicants to 75, but anything you disclose can trigger more. So a healthy 71-year-old may have more than one door, and someone with a serious condition has fewer.

Which Momentum product is open at which age

Momentum product	Entry ages	Open at 70 to 75	Open at 76 and over
Funeral Insurance	40 to 75	Yes	No
Quick Life	18 to 65	No	No

These are Momentum's own limits, from the Funeral Insurance policy wording (17 August 2023) and the Quick Life policy wording (November 2025). The Quick Life wording adds that if a person's true age at the start was over 65 the policy is void and the premiums are refunded, so the limit cannot be stretched. We have not found a statement of exactly how Momentum counts your age on the application date, so do not plan around a birthday without checking. The buttons on this page open Momentum's online application. At 70 or over, only the Funeral Insurance application is open to a new applicant; Quick Life is not open over 65. The plan pages are Funeral Cover and Quick Life.

How Funeral Insurance works between 70 and 75

Amount. $3,000 to $30,000 for each person, with a $30,000 limit across all of that person's Momentum funeral policies.
Acceptance. Guaranteed: no medicals, health questions or paperwork. The applicant must live in New Zealand and be a citizen of New Zealand or Australia, a permanent resident visa holder, or have been in New Zealand continuously for at least 12 months on a valid temporary work visa.
Premiums. Fixed each year until the 89th birthday, after which premiums stop and cover continues for life. Momentum can change the rate for everyone on the plan only for a change in tax or other law, or claims experience significantly different from expected, on 30 days' written notice. Card payments carry a processing fee.
Terminal illness. There is no terminal illness benefit.
Cooling off. A 30-day free look from the Acceptance Date, with a full refund if no claim has been made.
Who can own it. An adult child can own a policy on a parent, because the wording counts a parent as a relative.

Momentum publishes no funeral premium, so QuoteHub does not print one. The wording itself warns that total premiums could exceed the benefit and that the benefit may not cover the cost of a funeral. At 74, premiums running to the 89th birthday would be paid for 15 years; at 70 it is 19 years.

The first 24 months, in dollars

Here is how the early window treats a $10,000 benefit. The figure is a round example, not a quote.

What happens	When	What is paid
Death from an accident, within 90 days of the accident	Month 10	$30,000 (three times the benefit)
Death from illness	Month 10	Nothing; all premiums paid for that person are refunded
Death from illness	Month 30	$10,000
Death from an accident, within 90 days of the accident	Month 30	$30,000

The wording defines an accident as an unintentional event by violent, external and visible means that directly and solely causes death and is not self-inflicted. Increasing the benefit later starts a new 24-month window for the increase.

If your old policy lapsed

A common situation at 71 is a policy that was allowed to lapse years ago. Work through it in this order.

Find out what lapsed, and why. Look for the policy schedule or ask the insurer. For Momentum Funeral Insurance, if Momentum cancelled the policy for unpaid premiums you can apply to reinstate: it is subject to eligibility criteria, outstanding premiums must be paid first, and reinstatement is not guaranteed. If you cancelled it yourself, the wording says you will need to reapply for cover and lose the benefit of the premiums already paid. (Quick Life's wording adds that its two-year period recommences on reapplying, but Quick Life is not open at your age.) The Funeral wording does not say whether a reinstated policy restarts the 24 months. We found no published reinstatement window for other insurers; ask them.
Do not assume a new policy picks up where the old one left off. A policy held for years has finished its early window. A new Funeral Insurance policy starts its own 24 months, and we found nothing in the wording that credits time on an earlier policy elsewhere.
Check what cover with health questions exists at your age. Fidelity Life's life cover has an entry age of 16 to 75 with no expiry age. AIA Living Life Cover and Chubb's Assurance Extra Life Cover both take new applicants only to 70 (their cover then has no expiry). NZ Seniors Life takes ages 45 to 79 after eight health questions by phone, and Golden Insurance 40 to 80 after health and lifestyle questions. These are limits, not offers: the insurer decides, and a licensed adviser cannot make it accept you.
Answer every question fully. IFSO says the law puts an obligation on insureds to disclose all material information. In one IFSO case the insurer applied 50% loadings retrospectively and paid a reduced claim, and the complaint was not upheld. From 15 November 2027 (not yet in force) the Contracts of Insurance Act 2024 replaces this with a duty to take reasonable care, but it is not the law today.
Compare before you cancel anything still running. The FMA says to keep an old policy until the new one is in force and to watch for new waiting periods, pre-existing exclusions and different premiums.

A guaranteed-acceptance life policy for a large amount, of the kind Quick Life offers to 65, is not something we found for applicants aged 71. Of the products we checked, Greenwich Life's QuickCover Life takes ages 21 to 60.

Other funeral cover at 70 to 75

Momentum is not the only insurer with no-health-question funeral cover at your age. NZ Seniors and OneChoice (both issued by Pinnacle Life) take ages 18 to 79 with a 12-month accident-only window, AA Life takes 50 to 79 and Chubb Life 50 to 80, each with a 24-month window, and Unity takes 18 to 75. The windows, refunds and rating differ; the side-by-side table is in our funeral insurance comparison, and the age bands are on the age limits page. The Momentum-specific page for this age is funeral insurance over 70.

When you turn 76

Neither Momentum product accepts a new applicant over 75. Other insurers publish funeral entry ages to 79 or 80, and nothing we found publishes guaranteed acceptance above that. What to do from there is on guaranteed acceptance life insurance over 75. One age band down, over 60 is where Quick Life still applies.

Is it worth the cost?

A short test before you apply:

What would the money be for? FDANZ's 2026 report puts a full funeral with 50 guests at an average $11,700 for a cremation and $14,300 for a burial, and an unattended cremation at $4,700. A $3,000 to $30,000 benefit may cover part of that or all of it.
Could savings do the same job? Premiums to age 89 can add up to more than the benefit. Our break-even calculator shows when that happens for an example premium you enter.
Is there other help? The Work and Income Funeral Grant is up to $2,697.43, asset tested (with an income test where the person who died was a partner or child), and prepaid funeral cover can affect eligibility (Work and Income).
Can you manage the first 24 months? If you are unwell now, the wait matters most: illness-related death in that window pays nothing.

Where to get 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. The rating is an opinion on the insurer's ability to pay claims, not a recommendation. QuoteHub is a Momentum Life partner and Smiths Insurance & KiwiSaver may receive a commission if you buy a Momentum policy; see how we are paid. Advice is provided by Craig Smith Business Services Limited, trading as Smiths Insurance & KiwiSaver, a licensed Financial Advice Provider (FSP712931). Back to the guaranteed acceptance hub.