Medical Under-Declaration: What Our Latest Report Reveals

2 June 2026 / 5 min read

Insurance, at its core, is a promise: when customers face their most vulnerable moments, the industry will be there to protect them. That promise stretches across every line of business, including life, health and travel insurance.

Yet a silent challenge threatens to undermine that promise: medical under-declaration.

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Medical under-declaration occurs when a customer provides incomplete or inaccurate health information during the application or renewal process. Because it relates directly to someone’s health – their condition, past diagnoses, treatments or medications – the consequences can be far-reaching.

In travel insurance, travellers could face hospital bills abroad or, in the worst-case scenario, find themselves without the protection they expected. In health insurance, it can lead to disputes and delays when treatment is needed. In life insurance, it can leave grieving families without the financial support they anticipated.

Importantly, medical under-declaration is rarely about fraud. More often, it stems from confusion, complexity and cognitive gaps. Customers may not know what qualifies as a condition, struggle with jargon-heavy questions, or simply underestimate the relevance of their medical history.

The result is the same: a breakdown in trust at the moment it matters most.

The scale of the challenge

It is tempting to treat medical under-declaration as a product-specific issue. In reality, the patterns are remarkably consistent across life, health and travel insurance. Customers face similar barriers: confusing terminology, unclear questioning, and the challenge of recalling medical information accurately.

Verisk recently released a new report ‘Medical Under-Declaration: A Systemic Risk to Insurance Outcomes’ to better understand the scale of the issue, and how it can be addressed.

In this report, Verisk conducted an in-depth survey of senior leaders across the travel insurance sector. The findings offer a compelling case study for challenges seen across life and health insurance too.

As Jeff Cook, Head of Life & Health at Verisk Life, Health and Travel, explains:

"The behaviours we see in travel mirror what we experience in life underwriting. People rarely intend to mislead; however, in some cases existing processes do not facilitate accurate disclosure."

The findings suggest the challenge is becoming increasingly difficult for insurers to ignore.

In the travel sector alone, 87% of insurers surveyed said medical under-declaration is a pain point within their business, while more than half reporting that the issue is getting worse. A striking 81% have seen increases since COVID-19, while 42% say the issue has intensified further in the past two years.

Available industry research reinforces the scale of the challenge. Research from AllClear found that around one in four customers do not declare all of their medical conditions when purchasing travel insurance. In life and health insurance, a 2021 study found that nearly half of UK adults with a mental health condition did not disclose it to insurers.

As Jeff Cook notes:

"This is just the tip of the iceberg. The reality is, the industry doesn't fully understand how big the iceberg of medical under-declaration really is. Such statistics can only reinforce that it is alarmingly common."

Caused by misunderstanding, not malice

One of the clearest findings from Verisk's research is that customers are not typically trying to game the system.

The leading cause identified by insurers was customers' lack of awareness of their own conditions (51%), while genuine mistakes (27%) were cited significantly more often than deliberate omissions (18%).

At the same time, broader health trends are adding complexity to the challenge.

"We're also seeing under-declaration become more challenging because chronic conditions are rising so quickly," says Jack Farrall, Head of Travel & Pet at Verisk Life, Health and Travel. "More customers are living longer with multiple managed illnesses, and those conditions feel 'routine' to them – which makes them less likely to declare."

These findings challenge some of the assumptions often associated with non-disclosure and raise important questions about how the industry can better support customers through the disclosure process.

The impact extends far beyond claims

Medical under-declaration often remains hidden until a claim is made, when the stakes are highest. However, its impact extends much further than individual claims outcomes.

“Consumers could be without support when they need it most. Distributors face reputational damage when products fail to meet expectations. Insurers need to contend with pricing mismatches, claims friction and regulatory scrutiny” says Iain Howie, Managing Director at Verisk Life, Health and Travel.

Perhaps most importantly, medical under-declaration can undermine confidence in insurance itself.

As more insurers publish claims payment statistics and customer outcomes come under greater scrutiny, the ability to collect accurate information at the point of sale is becoming increasingly important. Better disclosure is not simply a risk-management exercise; it is fundamental to building trust, improving customer outcomes and supporting sustainable growth across the market.

A challenge that requires industry attention

The data tells a clear story. Medical under-declaration is not an isolated issue affecting a small number of customers or insurers. It is a systemic challenge with implications across the insurance value chain.

Yet despite growing awareness of the problem, important questions remain. How widespread is medical under-declaration across different product lines? What are the biggest drivers behind it? Where are the industry's blind spots? And what practical steps can insurers take to improve disclosure outcomes without creating additional friction for customers?

These are the questions explored in Verisk's latest market report.

Download the full report

In Medical Under-Declaration: A Systemic Risk to Insurance Outcomes, Verisk examines the causes, consequences and potential solutions surrounding medical under-declaration across life, health and travel insurance.

The report combines original industry research, expert perspectives and behavioural science insights to explore:

The true scale and prevalence of medical under-declaration
The impact on customers, insurers and distributors
Key industry blind spots and emerging challenges
Expert views from across the insurance market
Practical considerations for improving disclosure outcomes

Download the full report to explore the findings in full and join the conversation on how the industry can build declaration journeys that are clearer, fairer and more effective for everyone.

Download now