Life insurance options with multiple sclerosis

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.

Whether you can get life insurance with multiple sclerosis (MS) depends on the route. Cover with health questions is judged on your records, and we found no New Zealand insurer that publishes its terms for MS. Momentum Life's Quick Life, for ages 18 to 65, asks no health questions but pays nothing for an MS-related death or terminal illness in its first 2 years; the premiums are refunded instead.

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

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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.

Multiple sclerosis is a condition in which the immune system damages the protective layer around nerve fibres in the brain and spinal cord. About 1 in 1000 New Zealanders has it (Healthify, reviewed by Multiple Sclerosis New Zealand). For insurance, the useful question is not "will an insurer accept MS" but "which rules apply to an MS-related claim, and when". There are three routes. Fully underwritten cover is priced on your individual records and can be postponed, loaded, excluded or declined. Quick Life accepts the application, then excludes pre-existing conditions for 2 years. Funeral Insurance, for ages 40 to 75, accepts the application and pays only for accidental death for 24 months. Total premiums on any of these can end up larger than the benefit, and a funeral benefit may not meet the whole funeral.

What underwritten cover does with MS

With health questions, an insurer assesses the person, not the diagnosis name. Asteron Life says that with an existing condition it can usually still offer cover by adding a stand-down period, raising the premium, or excluding the condition permanently or for a set time (Asteron Life: insurance options for pre-existing conditions). That is general guidance, not a statement about MS. We looked for published terms for MS at the New Zealand life insurers and found none, so we cannot tell you whether a loading, a postponement, an exclusion or a decline is likely. Any page that gives you a percentage or a waiting period for MS has not got it from a published source.

What we can say is how to approach it:

Disclose everything asked. The Insurance & Financial Services Ombudsman Scheme (IFSO) says insureds must disclose all material information, and publishes cases where insurers reduced or avoided claims for non-disclosure (IFSO).
Use an adviser for the first look. A licensed adviser can ask insurers for a pre-assessment. Fidelity Life describes a pre-assessment as "not an offer of cover, nor a binding final assessment" (Fidelity Life underwriting guide).
Keep any existing policy. The Financial Markets Authority says to keep the old policy running until a new one is in force (FMA).

A healthy applicant can usually get more cover for less through fully underwritten cover, but with MS the answer is individual. See guaranteed acceptance versus full medical underwriting and life insurance after a decline.

How Quick Life treats MS

Quick Life is cover of $50,000 to $300,000 for ages 18 to 65, issued by Momentum Life Limited, with no medical exam and no health questions. The wording sets up two stages. In the first 2 years you are covered for accidental death and for new medical conditions that arise after the policy starts. Pre-existing conditions and suicide are not covered in that period. After 2 years the cover includes pre-existing conditions, except a few specific conditions that can be permanently excluded in the policy schedule (Momentum Life: Quick Life policy wording, November 2025).

Under that wording a pre-existing 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, noticed symptoms of even if undiagnosed, or would reasonably have been aware of. In the claims section Momentum says it will not pay for death or terminal illness in the first 2 years if the cause is "directly or indirectly related" to something you had symptoms of, were diagnosed with, or sought advice or treatment for before cover started.

For someone with MS this means:

Death or terminal illness related to MS in the first 2 years is not paid. If no claim is payable, the premiums are refunded.
The test includes indirect relation, so a complication linked to MS could be argued either way. We cannot say how Momentum would decide a particular claim, and the wording gives it the decision.
Symptoms count even before a diagnosis. If symptoms started before cover began, they are inside the definition whether or not a doctor had named them.
The same 2-year rule applies to an increase in cover (for the increase only) and after a reinstatement. Automatic indexation increases do not restart it.
Momentum's website says Quick Life is not available to applicants diagnosed with a terminal illness or in palliative or hospice care (Momentum Life: Quick Life). That rule is on the website, not in the wording.

A timeline, so you can see the clock

These are invented examples to show how the rules read, not predictions.

Situation	What the Quick Life wording says
Death in an accident, month 3	Accidental death is covered from the start
Death related to MS, month 10	Pre-existing condition inside 2 years: no benefit, premiums refunded
Terminal illness diagnosed related to MS, month 18	No benefit inside 2 years if related to a pre-existing condition. Ask Momentum what happens to cover and any later claim
Death related to MS, month 30	Cover includes pre-existing conditions after 2 years, unless MS is a permanent exclusion in the schedule
Death from an unrelated new illness, month 12	New conditions are covered, but whether it is related to MS is decided at claim

Two things follow. First, the two years are a real cost: Quick Life premiums are stepped, rising each year with age until 75, and you are paying for cover that does not yet apply to the condition you have. Second, a permanent exclusion is possible. Ask Momentum before you rely on this cover whether it would list MS on your schedule.

MS is also a condition that runs over many years, with different courses. Healthify says relapsing-remitting MS is seen in about 85% of people with early-stage MS, primary progressive MS occurs in 1 out of 10 people with MS, and secondary progressive MS develops within 15 years of diagnosis in 2 out of 3 people with relapsing-remitting MS. No insurer we found publishes how those types affect terms, so do not assume a milder course changes the Quick Life exclusion. It does not appear in the wording.

Funeral Insurance if you are 40 to 75

Momentum's Funeral Insurance asks no health questions and, in the wording we read, has no pre-existing condition clause. The benefit is $3,000 to $30,000. In the first 24 months it pays only for accidental death, where death happens within 90 days of the accident; for any other death in that window nothing is paid and all premiums for that person are refunded. After 24 months it pays on death from any cause. There is no terminal illness benefit. Accidental death pays three times the benefit at any time. Premiums are level until the 89th birthday (Momentum Life: Funeral Insurance policy wording, 17 August 2023). See Funeral Cover.

The two products work differently on the same facts. Quick Life excludes the pre-existing MS for 2 years but would cover a new, unrelated illness from day one. Funeral Insurance does not distinguish: any death from illness in the first 24 months is outside the benefit. It is a small fixed sum aimed at funeral costs, not a way to protect a mortgage or income.

Questions to settle before you apply

Do you need cover to work in the next two years? If yes, guaranteed acceptance will not do that for MS, and an adviser should test underwritten options first.
What is the cover for? A funeral sum, a debt, or family income need different products and amounts.
Is there cover you already hold? Check work, bank, KiwiSaver and partner policies for life cover, and read what they say about MS.
Can you pay a stepped premium for the long term? Total premiums can pass the benefit.

If a decision on a claim is disputed, Momentum's wording points to its complaints process and then IFSO, whose assessment is binding on Momentum.

Momentum Life's A.M. Best rating is B (Fair), which Momentum's own table places in its "Vulnerable" range; see its financial strength page. 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. General information, not advice. Advice is provided by Craig Smith Business Services Limited, trading as Smiths Insurance & KiwiSaver, a licensed Financial Advice Provider (FSP712931). More on the plan itself is at Quick Life, the two-year exclusion explained and the guaranteed acceptance hub. A similar autoimmune case is covered in life insurance with lupus.

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

Momentum Life's guaranteed-acceptance cover asks no health questions, so MS is not asked about, but it changes what the cover does. Quick Life will not pay for a death or terminal illness related to MS in its first two years, and Funeral Insurance pays only for accidental death in its first 24 months. If you want cover that works from day one, ask a licensed adviser what fully underwritten insurers would offer on your records before you pay anything.

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

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Cite this page QuoteHub NZ (2026). Life Insurance With Multiple Sclerosis NZ: Options. www.quotehub.co.nz/guaranteed-acceptance/life-insurance-with-multiple-sclerosis-nz. Updated 2026-10-20.