Life insurance options after a stroke or TIA

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.

Life insurance after a stroke or transient ischaemic attack (TIA) is possible to apply for in New Zealand, but it is not predictable. Cover with health questions is judged on your records, and we found no insurer that publishes terms for stroke. Momentum Life's Quick Life, for ages 18 to 65, asks no health questions but excludes pre-existing conditions for 2 years; Funeral Insurance pays only for accidental death for 24 months.

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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.

A stroke is a sudden interruption of blood supply to the brain that can cause permanent damage. A TIA, also called a mini-stroke or warning stroke, happens when a clot cuts off blood to part of the brain briefly and then breaks up. Healthify says TIA symptoms typically last from a few seconds to several hours, that symptoms lasting longer than 24 hours indicate a stroke, and that about 1 to 2 in 10 people who have a TIA have a stroke within the next year (Healthify: Transient ischaemic attack, reviewed 11 August 2023). Each year about 9,500 people in New Zealand have a stroke, and Māori and Pacific Peoples have strokes about 10 to 15 years earlier than Europeans (Healthify: Stroke, reviewed 24 October 2023 by Stroke Foundation NZ). Total premiums on either Momentum product can pass the benefit, and a funeral benefit may not meet the whole funeral.

What is published about stroke and underwriting

Less than you might expect. We found no New Zealand insurer that publishes a waiting period, loading or exclusion for a stroke or TIA, and we do not repeat figures from sites that do not trace them to an insurer. What we found is about process.

Partners Life lists cardiovascular conditions, including heart attacks and strokes, among the cardiovascular risk factors that decide whether it will waive build exams and blood tests for higher body weights (RiskinfoNZ, 17 October 2024). A stroke is therefore a flagged item in a full application.
Fidelity Life and Chubb Life add tests such as an exercise ECG or calcium score at their higher evidence levels. Those guides are written for heart assessment, not stroke specifically, so read this as a sign of how thorough a cardiovascular assessment can get, not as a stroke rule.
Asteron Life's general guidance on existing conditions lists a stand-down period, a higher premium, or an exclusion (permanent or time-limited) as ways it can still offer cover (Asteron Life: insurance options for pre-existing conditions). It is not specific to stroke.
IFSO published a case where an insurer applied 50% loadings retrospectively after non-disclosure and paid a reduced stroke claim; the complaint was not upheld (IFSO, 10 July 2025). The lesson is to disclose fully at the start.

You may see claims that a single resolved TIA is treated differently from recurrent strokes; we cannot cite an insurer saying so. A licensed adviser can ask insurers for a pre-assessment, which Fidelity Life describes as "not an offer of cover, nor a binding final assessment" (Fidelity Life underwriting guide). Nobody can promise standard terms after a TIA, and none should be assumed. See life insurance after a heart attack and insurance with heart conditions for the neighbouring cardiovascular picture.

Records to gather before you talk to an adviser

A full application usually needs the facts of the event. Having them ready saves weeks. This list is practical guidance, not an insurer requirement.

The date of the stroke or TIA, and of any later event.
The hospital discharge letter and the specialist's report, if there was a neurology or stroke-clinic follow-up.
Your current medicines, with start dates.
Recent blood pressure and cholesterol readings from your GP.
Any scans or heart tests you were given.
Whether you have recovered fully, and any ongoing effects.

Your GP practice and the hospital can tell you how to request copies. Answer every question truthfully, including ones that seem minor.

How Quick Life treats a stroke or TIA

Quick Life is issued by Momentum Life Limited, with cover from $50,000 to $300,000 for ages 18 to 65. In the first 2 years it covers accidental death and new conditions that arise after the policy starts. Pre-existing conditions and suicide are not covered. After 2 years, pre-existing conditions are covered too, except a few specific conditions that can be permanently excluded in the policy schedule (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, or noticed symptoms of. It also names specific health markers: very high blood pressure, cholesterol over 7.0, a BMI over 40, or complications related to diabetes. Healthify lists high blood pressure and high cholesterol among stroke risk factors, so they may be on your record as well, and they count under this definition whether or not a stroke is.

In the claims section, no benefit is paid in the first 2 years for death or terminal illness "directly or indirectly related" to something you were diagnosed with or sought advice or treatment for before cover began. After a stroke or TIA, that is likely to include a later stroke, heart or blood-pressure related death, and complications of the first event. Our reading is that a TIA is treated like a stroke here, because it is a diagnosed event with advice and treatment; Momentum makes the decision at claim time. If death from a pre-existing condition happens in the first 24 months and no claim is payable, the premiums are refunded. Momentum's website adds that Quick Life is not available to applicants diagnosed with a terminal illness or in palliative or hospice care (Momentum Life: Quick Life).

Funeral Insurance, ages 40 to 75

Funeral Insurance does not ask whether you have had a stroke, and the wording we read has no pre-existing condition clause. The benefit is $3,000 to $30,000. Death within 90 days of an accident pays three times the benefit at any time. A stroke death inside the first 24 months pays nothing and all premiums for that person are refunded; later, death from any cause is paid. There is no terminal illness benefit. The premium rate is fixed until the 89th birthday (Momentum Life: Funeral Insurance policy wording, 17 August 2023). See Funeral Cover.

Putting it together

	Cover with health questions	Quick Life	Funeral Insurance
Ages	Set by each insurer	18 to 65	40 to 75
Stroke or TIA considered?	Yes, from your records	Not asked; counts as pre-existing for 2 years	Not asked; no condition clause
Early rule	Individual: stand-down, loading, exclusion, decline possible	2 years, pre-existing excluded	24 months, accidental death only
Can pay out from day one?	If accepted, per its terms	Accident and new conditions, yes	Accident only

Test underwritten cover first through an adviser, since a healthy applicant can usually get more cover for less that way; after a stroke the result is individual (guaranteed acceptance versus full medical underwriting). If you are declined, read life insurance after a decline. Quick Life premiums are stepped, rising each year with age until 75. 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). More: Quick Life, the two-year exclusion 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

After a stroke or TIA, guaranteed acceptance will take an eligible application, but Quick Life will not pay for a death or terminal illness related to the stroke in its first two years, and Funeral Insurance pays only for accidental death for 24 months. We found no published insurer terms for stroke, so we cannot give a waiting period or loading. An adviser can test underwritten cover first, using your hospital and GP records.

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

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Cite this page QuoteHub NZ (2026). Life Insurance After a Stroke or TIA NZ. www.quotehub.co.nz/guaranteed-acceptance/life-insurance-with-stroke-nz. Updated 2026-10-20.

References

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