When approaching retirement it is vital to shop around and ensure that you purchase the best possible income (annuity) from your pension fund for your retirement.

This becomes even more important should you suffer from a serious medical condition.  This is due to the fact that some annuities can be medically underwritten and the income offered by a provider is based on the length of time they expect an applicant to survive and be in receipt of a pension income.

Someone who suffers from a serious medical condition may well qualify for an impaired life annuity, if so they can expect to receive a higher income than they would have received other annuities. 

The increase in pension income will be dependent of the severity of their condition, the greater the severity then the shorter an applicant’s life expectancy will be – therefore the higher the income provided from an impaired life annuity will be.

Typical medical conditions that may qualify for an impaired life annuity include; heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, kidney failure, multiple sclerosis, certain types of cancer, chronic asthma, diabetes and obesity, although other conditions may well apply.

An applicant will be expected to complete a full application form and give details of all conditions, dates of diagnosis and treatment, a list of any medication will be required along with authority for the impaired life annuity provider to converse with an applicant’s GP and request any relevant reports and documentation.  They may also be required to undertake a medical examination by a general practitioner in order to satisfy the provider of the medical claims made, this will be at the providers’ expense and an applicant should not be expected to pay for this.

It is important to understand that many providers of annuities do not provide impaired life annuities so simply providing your pension provider details of your ailments may well not result in you receiving a greater income.  So a potential annuitant should ensure that they research the market place thoroughly to ensure that all providers are considered, there are even providers that solely provide impaired life annuities. 

By far the simplest way of achieving this is to employ an Independent Financial Adviser to research the market place on your behalf, they will have computer systems that can do this quickly and efficiently.