Life insurance options after an organ transplant

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.

After an organ transplant, life cover with health questions is judged on your individual records, and we found no New Zealand insurer that publishes terms for transplant recipients. Momentum Life's Quick Life (ages 18 to 65) and Funeral Insurance (ages 40 to 75) ask no health questions, but Quick Life excludes pre-existing conditions for 2 years and Funeral Insurance pays only for accidental death for 24 months.

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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.

A transplant replaces a failing organ, such as a kidney, liver or heart, with a healthy one from a donor. Healthify describes a kidney transplant as "an operation to have someone else's healthy kidney put inside you", one of three treatment choices for kidney failure alongside dialysis and supportive care (Healthify: Kidney disease, reviewed 24 February 2026). For insurance, the useful facts are the reason for the transplant, its date and your current care, because those are what a pre-existing condition rule is likely to turn on. That is why the first two years of any guaranteed-acceptance policy are the part to read closely. Total premiums on either product can end up larger than the benefit, and the benefit may not cover everything you need it to.

Why this page does not tell you what underwritten cover will do

You may have read that transplant recipients are routinely declined. We could not find that in any published insurer document, so we do not repeat it. Equally, we do not say cover is likely. Underwritten cover is decided individually from your records, and an insurer can postpone, load, exclude or decline. Asteron Life's general guidance on existing conditions lists three tools, a stand-down period, a higher premium, or an exclusion that is permanent or for a set time, and says it can usually still offer cover (Asteron Life: insurance options for pre-existing conditions). That is not about transplants.

If you want to know, ask a licensed adviser to test it. Fidelity Life describes a pre-assessment as "not an offer of cover, nor a binding final assessment", so it can be done without committing (Fidelity Life underwriting guide). Whatever the insurer asks, answer fully. The Insurance & Financial Services Ombudsman Scheme (IFSO) publishes cases where insurers reduced or avoided claims for non-disclosure (IFSO). See life insurance after a decline for what to do if an insurer says no.

Quick Life after a transplant (ages 18 to 65)

Quick Life pays $50,000 to $300,000 on accidental death, death from any cause and terminal illness, and is issued by Momentum Life Limited. In the first 2 years it covers accidental death and new medical conditions that arise after the policy starts. It does not cover pre-existing conditions or suicide in that period (Momentum Life: Quick Life policy wording, November 2025).

The wording defines a pre-existing condition as any illness, condition or symptoms you had in the 2 years before the policy started, including anything you had treatment or advice for. In the claims section, Momentum will not pay in the first 2 years if death or terminal illness is "directly or indirectly related" to something you were diagnosed with or sought advice or treatment for before cover started.

Applied to a transplant, our reading is as follows. It is a reading of the wording, not a decision by Momentum, which makes the call at claim time.

The transplant itself. Surgery, follow-up and ongoing medicines are treatment and advice, so a transplant inside the last 2 years, or ongoing care for the transplanted organ, falls in the definition.
The illness behind it. If the transplant was for kidney, liver or heart disease, a death linked to that disease is likely to be "indirectly related". An older transplant is less clear: the definition looks back 2 years before the policy started, while the claims section says "before their cover started" and points to that definition. Ask Momentum in writing how it would treat a transplant from many years ago.
A new, unrelated illness or an accident. Accidental death is covered from the start, and so are new conditions that arise after the policy begins, but a dispute about whether a cause is related is possible.
After 2 years. Cover includes pre-existing conditions, except specific conditions that can be permanently excluded in the policy schedule. Ask Momentum whether a transplant-related exclusion would be listed on yours.

If death from a pre-existing condition occurs in the first 24 months and no claim is payable, the premiums are refunded. The same 2-year rule applies to an increase in cover and after reinstatement. 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). Quick Life premiums are stepped, rising each year with age until 75.

Funeral Insurance after a transplant (ages 40 to 75)

Funeral Insurance has no health questions and, in the wording we read, no pre-existing condition clause, so a transplant is not the test; timing is. The benefit is $3,000 to $30,000. Accidental death, where death happens within 90 days of the accident, pays three times the benefit at any time. In the first 24 months nothing else is paid and all premiums for that person are refunded; from month 25 a death from any cause is paid. There is no terminal illness benefit. The premium rate stays the same each year until the 89th birthday, when payments stop and cover continues (Momentum Life: Funeral Insurance policy wording, 17 August 2023). See Funeral Cover and pre-existing conditions and funeral insurance.

Which product fits which job

	Quick Life	Funeral Insurance
Ages	18 to 65	40 to 75
Amount	$50,000 to $300,000	$3,000 to $30,000
First period	2 years: pre-existing conditions and suicide excluded	24 months: accidental death only
Transplant-related death inside it	No benefit; premiums refunded if no claim is payable	No benefit; all premiums refunded
Unrelated new illness inside it	Covered, subject to the "related" test	Not paid; premiums refunded
Terminal illness benefit	Yes	None

Quick Life suits a need for a larger sum that you can wait two years for, such as a debt or a family. Funeral Insurance suits a small sum for funeral costs, and its single rule is simpler to apply to a transplant history. Neither is a substitute for the other and, for a person who needs money in the next two years, neither does the job for transplant-related causes.

Support beyond insurance

Kidney Health New Zealand runs a renal nurse line on 0800 543 639 and lists transplant coordinators who can answer questions about transplant or donation (Kidney Health NZ). Your transplant team is the right place for medical questions. If a death is expected to be soon, read funeral grants and what to do if you cannot afford a funeral in advance.

Before you apply

Ask an adviser to pre-assess underwritten cover first.
Write down the dates: the transplant, the illness behind it, and your last check-up.
Decide whether you need the money inside two years.
Keep any existing policy until a new one is in force (FMA).

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). Related pages: life insurance with kidney disease, the two-year exclusion, Quick Life and the guaranteed acceptance hub.