Leaving something off the application

What material means

Not “important to you”. The test is whether the information would have changed what the insurer did: whether they would have offered coverage at all, at that price, or on those terms.

That is a lower bar than most people assume. A medication you stopped taking, a specialist referral that came to nothing, a test you were waiting on, a condition you consider trivial: any of these can be material if the insurer would have asked more questions or priced differently.

It is why the sensible instinct is to disclose more rather than less. Reporting something the insurer decides is irrelevant costs you nothing.

Most of it is accidental

The picture people have is somebody deliberately concealing a serious diagnosis. That happens, and it is a small share of the problem.

Far more common:

Forgetting. A hospital visit eleven years ago, a medication taken briefly, a referral that went nowhere.

Misreading the question. Questions have time windows and specific definitions. “Have you been advised to have any test or investigation” catches things with no diagnosis attached, and people answer no because nothing was found.

Underestimating. Deciding a condition is too minor to mention, or that a controlled condition does not count.

Relying on somebody else. An advisor completing the form and summarising an answer, with the applicant signing without reading it.

Rounding off lifestyle answers. Occasional cigarettes, cannabis a few times a year, alcohol reported at the number that felt reasonable.

The consequences are the same regardless of intent for the first category of outcomes below.

What actually happens

Within the first two years. If a claim is made, the insurer can compare the application against your medical records. If they find a material misstatement, the claim can be reduced or refused, and the policy can be voided with premiums returned. This is the contestability period, and it applies to every policy.

After two years. Most Canadian policies become incontestable except in cases of fraud. An innocent error generally cannot be used to challenge the policy or the claim at that point. Deliberate fraud remains actionable, and that exception has no time limit in most contracts.

Discovered before a claim. Much easier. The insurer typically reassesses: the price may be adjusted, an exclusion added, or in some cases coverage reduced. The policy usually survives.

The gap between those outcomes is the argument for fixing it early.

If you realize something was missed

Tell the insurer, in writing, as soon as you know. Do not wait for a claim, and do not hope it will not surface.

If the policy has not yet been issued, this is straightforward. An amendment is filed and underwriting takes it into account, and the outcome is whatever it would have been had the information been there originally.

If the policy is already in force, the insurer will normally reassess. The realistic range of outcomes is that nothing changes, the premium is adjusted, an exclusion is added, or, in serious cases, the policy is rescinded and premiums returned.

None of those is as bad as a refused claim. A rescinded policy at least tells you where you stand while you can still do something about it.

Two situations worth naming

Nicotine. Insurers test for cotinine as a matter of routine, and it picks up vaping and nicotine replacement as well as smoking. A non-smoker declaration contradicted by a positive test is the most frequently caught discrepancy in the whole process. See smokers, vaping and nicotine testing.

Other coverage. Applications ask what insurance you hold or have applied for. Insurers can see other applications through the shared industry database. Understating this converts a routine question into a credibility issue.

If you are unsure whether to disclose

Disclose it.

If you are unsure what a question means, ask before answering and keep the answer in writing. That record is worth having if the question ever comes up again.

And read the application before signing it, even if somebody else filled it in. You are the person signing, and your family is the one who lives with the result.