Simplified issue, guaranteed acceptance and full underwriting

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.

Simplified issue life insurance asks a short set of health questions and needs no full medical exam or GP report. Guaranteed acceptance asks no health questions at all. Fully underwritten insurance asks for a comprehensive health declaration and may ask for medical records or tests. The three differ in what you are asked, what you can be declined for and what is excluded early on.

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.

"Simplified issue" is an industry label, not a legal category, and we found no New Zealand regulatory definition of it. Insurers describe such products in their own words: "just some health and lifestyle questions", "eight questions over the phone", an "online risk assessment". Because the labels shift, the useful comparison is by what the product asks and what it excludes, which is what this page does.

The three types side by side

	Simplified issue	Guaranteed acceptance	Fully underwritten
Health questions	A short set, by phone or online	None	A full declaration, with follow-up questions
Medical exam or blood test	None	None	Only if the amount, age, build or answers call for it
GP records	Not requested	Not requested	May be requested
Can you be declined for health?	Yes	No health questions; Momentum's site excludes anyone with a terminal diagnosis	Yes
Pre-existing conditions	Assessed from your answers; a waiting period may apply	Excluded for the first 2 years (Quick Life)	Assessed; the insurer may load, exclude, postpone or decline
Cover limits	Product-specific, for example up to $200,000 or $250,000	$50,000 to $300,000 (Quick Life)	No maximum at some insurers, subject to assessment
What sets the price	Age, smoking and your answers	Age, gender, smoking status and amount	Those, plus your health and occupation
Approval speed	Not published for the products below	No health assessment step	Not published as a standard time; varies with the evidence needed

We have not found a published price comparison across the three types, so compare quotes for the same age, amount and smoker status rather than assuming an order.

Simplified issue in New Zealand: examples

These are the New Zealand products we found that ask a few health questions and order no tests, from each provider's own page.

NZ Seniors Life (issued by Pinnacle Life): ages 45 to 79, $10,000 to $200,000, "eight questions about your medical history over the phone", no medicals, cover to age 85. Suicide is excluded for the first 13 months (NZ Seniors). Pinnacle's A.M. Best rating is B+ (Good), as at 15 April 2026 (Pinnacle Life).
Golden Insurance (issued by Hallmark Life Insurance Company Limited): residents aged 40 to 80, $10,000 to $250,000 depending on age and circumstances, "just some health and lifestyle questions", no medicals or blood tests. Its page says a waiting period may apply, during which the benefit is paid only if you die due to an accident, and that depending on your health a waiting period may also apply (Golden Insurance). Golden Insurance is sometimes described as guaranteed acceptance. It is not, because health answers set eligibility, price and any waiting period. We publish no rating for Hallmark, as we found none current.
Booster Super Simple Life Insurance: Booster KiwiSaver members aged 18 to 50, $20,000 to $200,000, after an online risk assessment. Booster's page gives indicative prices of about $5, $10 and $20 a month for $50,000, $100,000 and $200,000 for a 30-year-old non-smoker, with premiums fixed until 40 (Booster), as published on 20 October 2026.

Entry ages, limits and terms change, so read the current policy document.

Guaranteed acceptance: two products, two rules

Guaranteed acceptance is the only one of the three with no health questions, and it comes in two forms from Momentum Life.

Quick Life (ages 18 to 65, $50,000 to $300,000 per person, rising 3% a year to a $500,000 cap per person): acceptance is guaranteed, and in the first 2 years it does not pay for a pre-existing condition or suicide. It does pay for accidental death and for conditions that first start after cover begins. Premiums are stepped to 75, then fixed. If death from a pre-existing condition occurs in the first 24 months and no claim is payable, premiums are refunded (Momentum Life: Quick Life Insurance Policy Wording, November 2025).

Funeral Insurance (ages 40 to 75, $3,000 to $30,000): no health questions. In the first 24 months it pays only for accidental death within 90 days of the accident, and refunds all premiums for any other death. Total premiums can exceed the benefit, and the benefit may not cover a whole funeral.

Do not read "guaranteed acceptance" as "guaranteed to pay". The guarantee is that you are accepted if you meet the age and residency rules. Greenwich Life's QuickCover (ages 21 to 60, $50,000 to $200,000) is a second like-for-like product with a similar two-year design (Greenwich Life).

Fully underwritten: what is asked

Fully underwritten cover is the process described in non-guaranteed acceptance. The insurer asks about your history and lifestyle, and decides on standard terms, a loading, an exclusion, a postponement or a decline. Whether it asks for a medical exam depends on the amount and your age: Chubb Life and Fidelity Life both publish that up to $500,000 they need only a form or personal statement at every age (Chubb Life, Fidelity Life). That means a lot of "no medical exam" cover is fully underwritten cover with a short assessment, not a separate simplified product. Our longer guide to life insurance with no medical exam and the page on life insurance without a blood test cover that overlap.

Which one matches your situation

If this is true	The type to look at first
You are healthy and want the most cover for the price	Fully underwritten
You are healthy and want a short process and a smaller amount	Simplified issue, then compare with underwritten
You have conditions that would likely lead to a decline, loading or long exclusion	Guaranteed acceptance, accepting its limits
You do not want to answer health questions	Guaranteed acceptance
You need more than $300,000	Fully underwritten

Whichever type you choose, answer every question you are asked. With a short questionnaire, each answer carries more weight, and IFSO has published cases where insurers reduced or avoided claims over information that was not disclosed (IFSO). For the guaranteed route in detail, see what guaranteed acceptance is and guaranteed acceptance versus full medical.

How we are paid, and who we are

General information, not advice. 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 our link; see how we are paid and our disclosure. Momentum Life Limited's A.M. Best financial strength rating is B (Fair), affirmed 11 February 2026, and Momentum's own table puts B in its "Vulnerable" range; see its financial strength page. A rating is an opinion, not a recommendation. The buttons on this page open Momentum's own online application, which is guaranteed acceptance, not simplified issue or underwritten cover. See the Quick Life page and the guaranteed acceptance hub. Written by the QuoteHub Editorial Team and reviewed by the QuoteHub Adviser Team. Last reviewed 20 October 2026.

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

Simplified issue sits in the middle: a few health questions, no exam, a smaller cover limit than full underwriting and, at some insurers, an accident-only waiting period. Guaranteed acceptance asks nothing but excludes pre-existing conditions early. Full underwriting asks the most and usually offers the most cover for the price if you are accepted. The labels matter because comparison sites routinely blur them, so check what each product actually asks.

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

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Cite this page QuoteHub NZ (2026). Simplified Issue Life Insurance NZ: Compare Types. www.quotehub.co.nz/guaranteed-acceptance/simplified-issue-life-insurance-nz. Updated 2026-10-20.

References

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