Getting life insurance with COPD in NZ

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.

COPD life insurance in New Zealand comes down to two routes. Cover with health questions is assessed individually, and no NZ insurer publishes its COPD terms. Momentum's Quick Life, for ages 18 to 65, asks no health questions but pays nothing for a pre-existing condition, including COPD, in its first two years, and refunds the premiums.

Get a quote and apply online today

See your price in about a minute, then apply online with Momentum Life. Guaranteed acceptance, no health questions, no medical exams.

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.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a group of lung diseases that narrow the airways and cause breathing problems. Healthify NZ says spirometry, a lung function test, is the test used to diagnose it, that severe COPD can cause low oxygen levels, and that long-term low oxygen may lead to home oxygen therapy (Healthify). For insurance, that matters in one way: an underwriter sees a chronic, progressive condition and decides case by case. A guaranteed-acceptance policy sees it differently. It does not ask, but it limits what it pays early on. Both routes are explained below, and neither is a promise.

What cover with health questions does

When an insurer asks health questions, it can accept you on standard terms, add a loading to the premium, exclude the condition, postpone the decision or decline. Asteron Life describes the options for an existing condition as adding a stand-down period, raising the premium, or excluding the condition permanently or for a set time (Asteron Life). We found no published COPD terms from any New Zealand insurer, so we cannot tell you where a mild or severe case lands, and a table of acceptance by lung-function stage would be invented. What we can say is that the facts an insurer is likely to want are the facts your own records hold:

when COPD was diagnosed, and the spirometry results behind it;
current treatment and medication, and whether you use home oxygen;
any hospital stays or flare-ups;
your smoking history, and whether you smoke now;
other conditions, including heart disease.

Answer completely. IFSO case notes show insurers avoiding or reducing claims for non-disclosure, and a policy bought on incomplete answers may not pay (IFSO).

Why smoking status matters to price

Healthify NZ says about 1 in every 4 smokers will develop COPD and that stopping smoking is the most important step to slow the loss of lung function. For cover, smoking status also sets the price. Fidelity Life and Chubb Life both require 12 months with no tobacco or nicotine replacement to be rated as a non-smoker (Fidelity Life FAQ, Chubb Life guide), and Momentum's Quick Life asks for 24 consecutive months. In QuoteHub's September 2026 Premium Index, smoker rates at $500,000 of cover ran roughly 1.5 to 2.4 times the cheapest non-smoker rate depending on age (QuoteHub: smokers). That is an index figure from a snapshot, not a quote, and your premium depends on underwriting. If you have stopped smoking, say so accurately, and note the date.

What Quick Life does with COPD

Quick Life accepts New Zealand residents aged 18 to 65 with no health questions and no exam, for $50,000 to $300,000 to start. Premiums are stepped, so they rise each year until 75, and total premiums can add up to more than the benefit. The early period is the point: in the first two years, Quick Life does not pay for death or a terminal illness diagnosis related to a pre-existing medical condition or suicide. If the person dies from a pre-existing condition in the first 24 months and no claim is payable, premiums are refunded (Momentum Life: Quick Life policy wording, November 2025).

A pre-existing medical condition is any illness, condition or symptoms you had in the 2 years before the policy started, including anything you had treatment or advice for. COPD that you have been treated for is inside that definition. The wording says a death is excluded in the early period if its cause is "directly or indirectly related" to such a condition, so a respiratory infection or heart failure in someone with COPD may be treated as related. Momentum decides at claim time, on the facts. Plan on the basis that a COPD-linked death in the first 24 months pays nothing.

An illustration with invented, round numbers: a 58-year-old with COPD takes $100,000 of Quick Life and dies of pneumonia 11 months later. If Momentum treats it as related to COPD, there is no benefit and the premiums paid are refunded. If the same death happened in month 30, the pre-existing exclusion would no longer apply, unless COPD is listed as a permanent exclusion in the policy schedule (a few specific conditions can be). Momentum's site also says Quick Life is not available to someone diagnosed with a terminal illness or in palliative or hospice care (Momentum Life).

Comparing the routes

	Cover with health questions	Quick Life	Funeral Insurance
Ages	Set by each insurer	18 to 65	40 to 75
COPD asked about	Yes	No	No
Early restriction	Per the terms offered	Pre-existing conditions and suicide excluded for 2 years	Accidental death only for 24 months
Amounts	Much higher possible	$50,000 to $300,000 to start	$3,000 to $30,000
Respiratory death in year one	Per the terms	No benefit; premiums refunded	No benefit; all premiums for that person refunded

When funeral insurance is the practical alternative

If you are 66 to 75, Quick Life is closed and Momentum's Funeral Insurance is the product that remains. It accepts New Zealanders aged 40 to 75 with no health questions, pays a fixed benefit of $3,000 to $30,000 towards funeral costs, and has no pre-existing-condition clause. In the first 24 months it pays only for accidental death within 90 days of the accident; after that, death from any cause (Momentum Life: Funeral Insurance policy wording, 17 August 2023). Total premiums can end up larger than the benefit, and the benefit may not cover the whole funeral. Read Momentum's Funeral Cover. Over 75, Momentum accepts no new applicants; see funeral insurance over 75.

To test whether you fit a product's age and residency rules, use the guaranteed acceptance eligibility checker. If you were declined elsewhere, read life insurance after a decline, and see smokers and no-medical cover.

Momentum Life's A.M. Best rating is B (Fair), in what Momentum's financial strength page calls the "Vulnerable" range. 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, and Smiths Insurance & KiwiSaver may receive a commission if you buy through the buttons on this page; see how we are paid. This page is general information about guaranteed acceptance, not advice on your situation.

Get a quote and apply online today

See your price in about a minute, then apply online with Momentum Life. Guaranteed acceptance, no health questions, no medical exams.

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

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.

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

Adviser's view

Guaranteed acceptance will take an application from someone with COPD, but it will not pay for a COPD-related death in the first two years. Premiums come back instead. If your lung function is stable and you want a large amount, ask a licensed adviser what cover with health questions would look like first. If you are older, funeral cover is the smaller, simpler product, with its own 24-month limit.

Henry Smith, Financial Adviser (FSP1010699). General information, not personalised financial advice.

Compare life cover with a licensed NZ adviser · free, no obligation.

Cite this page QuoteHub NZ (2026). Life Insurance With COPD NZ: Options and Limits. www.quotehub.co.nz/guaranteed-acceptance/life-insurance-with-copd-nz. Updated 2026-10-20.