Life and funeral cover with rheumatoid arthritis

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.

You can apply for cover with rheumatoid arthritis in New Zealand, but what you get depends on the route. Momentum Life's Quick Life and Funeral Insurance ask no health questions. Quick Life excludes pre-existing conditions for the first 2 years. Funeral Insurance has no condition clause but pays only for accidental death for the first 24 months. Cover with health questions is judged on your records, and no insurer we found publishes terms.

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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.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a long-term inflammatory condition in which the immune system attacks the lining of the joints, causing swelling, pain and stiffness. Healthify says it affects about 40,000 New Zealanders and affects women 3 times more often than men (Healthify, reviewed 24 May 2024). It is not limited to joints: the same page lists the eyes, lungs, heart, kidneys, skin, nerves and blood vessels, and says anaemia is common. That list is the reason this page spends time on the word "related". Total premiums on either Momentum product can end up larger than the benefit, and a funeral benefit may not meet the whole funeral.

Two different clocks

The risk with RA, as with any condition, is confusing the two Momentum products. They restrict the early period in different ways.

	Quick Life (ages 18 to 65)	Funeral Insurance (ages 40 to 75)
Health questions	None	None
Early rule	First 2 years: pre-existing conditions and suicide excluded	First 24 months: accidental death only
Does RA matter inside it?	Yes, if the death or terminal illness is related to it	Not as RA: any illness death is outside the benefit
Death from a new unrelated illness inside it	Covered, subject to the "related" test	Not paid
If no benefit is payable	Premiums refunded for a pre-existing condition death in the first 24 months	All premiums for that person refunded
After the early period	Pre-existing conditions covered, except permanent exclusions in the schedule	Death from any cause paid

Source: Momentum Life policy wordings, retrieved as listed below. Read it as two separate rules: Quick Life's is about which conditions, and Funeral Insurance's is about which kinds of death.

What underwritten cover does with RA

We looked for published terms from New Zealand life insurers for rheumatoid arthritis and found none. You will see websites state that treatment with a particular drug leads to a particular outcome; we do not repeat those claims, because we cannot trace them to an insurer document. Healthify describes the main treatments as disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs, with conventional ones such as methotrexate and hydroxychloroquine, and biologic drugs when those have not worked well or are not suitable. How a given insurer weighs any of that is its own call.

What we can say comes from general guidance. Asteron Life says an existing condition does not always rule cover out: it can usually still offer cover with a stand-down period, a higher premium, or an exclusion for a set time or permanently (Asteron Life: insurance options for pre-existing conditions). An exclusion for the condition is a different thing from a decline, and which of these, if any, would apply to you is individual. A licensed adviser can request a pre-assessment, which Fidelity Life describes as "not an offer of cover, nor a binding final assessment" (Fidelity Life underwriting guide). A healthy applicant can usually get more cover for less through full underwriting; with RA, test it before you pay for guaranteed acceptance. See guaranteed acceptance versus full medical underwriting.

Answer every question you are asked. The Insurance & Financial Services Ombudsman Scheme (IFSO) publishes cases where insurers reduced or avoided claims for non-disclosure (IFSO).

Quick Life's claims wording says no benefit is paid in the first 2 years for death or terminal illness that is "directly or indirectly related" to something you had symptoms of, were diagnosed with, or sought advice or treatment for before cover began (Momentum Life: Quick Life policy wording, November 2025). The definition of a pre-existing condition covers anything with treatment or advice or noticed symptoms in the 2 years before the policy started.

Because RA can involve the lungs, heart, kidneys and other organs, a claim in the first 2 years could raise the question of whether the cause of death was related to RA. Three things to know:

Taking RA medicines is treatment, so RA sits inside the definition if you were on treatment in the 2 years before cover.
The wording does not list RA drugs or severity bands. Mild and severe disease are not distinguished in what we read.
Momentum makes the decision at claim time. If you disagree, Momentum's complaints process comes first and then IFSO, whose assessment is binding on Momentum.

We cannot tell you how a particular claim would be decided. If this matters to your choice, ask Momentum in writing before you apply.

Funeral Insurance and arthritis

If your question is about funeral cover with arthritis, the answer is simpler. Funeral Insurance does not ask about arthritis and, in the wording we read, has no pre-existing condition clause. The benefit is $3,000 to $30,000. Accidental death pays three times the benefit at any time, where death occurs within 90 days of the accident. Any non-accidental death in the first 24 months pays nothing and all premiums for that person are refunded; after 24 months, death from any cause is paid. There is no terminal illness benefit. Premiums stay level until the 89th birthday (Momentum Life: Funeral Insurance policy wording, 17 August 2023). See Funeral Cover and funeral insurance and pre-existing conditions. If you are under 40 or over 75, Funeral Insurance is not open to you.

A decision path

Under 40, or you need more than a funeral sum. Ask an adviser for underwritten options first; Quick Life is the no-health-questions option for ages 18 to 65, with its 2-year wait.
Aged 40 to 75 and the aim is a funeral sum. Funeral Insurance has one early rule and is not affected by RA as such. Decide whether you would rather save the same money.
Already declined elsewhere. Read life insurance after a decline, and keep any existing cover.
Another autoimmune condition as well. See life insurance with lupus for how the same rules read there.

Quick Life premiums are stepped, rising each year with age until 75, so a longer wait costs more. Increasing cover later starts a new early period for the increase.

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: the two-year exclusion, Quick Life and the guaranteed acceptance hub.

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

Neither Momentum Life's Quick Life nor its Funeral Insurance asks about rheumatoid arthritis, because neither asks health questions. The early rules differ: Quick Life excludes pre-existing conditions for two years, while Funeral Insurance has no condition clause and pays only for accidental death for 24 months. We found no published insurer terms for rheumatoid arthritis, so ask an adviser what underwritten cover would offer.

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

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Cite this page QuoteHub NZ (2026). Life Insurance With Rheumatoid Arthritis NZ. www.quotehub.co.nz/guaranteed-acceptance/life-insurance-with-rheumatoid-arthritis-nz. Updated 2026-10-20.

References

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