Accessing protection insurance with Crohn's disease

Accessing protection insurance with Crohn’s disease

We have a number of people coming to us with Crohn’s disease, looking for the valuable protection insurance that they need.

Crohn’s disease is a long term condition which can cause inflammation of the digestive system. There are a number of symptoms that a person might face and some people can actually go for long periods of time without experiencing any symptoms at all.

Unlike other conditions there isn’t an exact known cause of Crohn’s disease. It’s usually thought that a combination of factors can lead to a diagnosis, such as:

• The immune system
• Smoking
• Having a previous infection
• Genetics inherited from parents
• Environmental factors
  

Access to insurance

When it comes to wanting protection insurance, insurers will want to know about any health conditions you have, including Crohn’s disease. There are a few questions you’re likely to see:

• When did you receive a diagnosis?
• What medication do you take?
• What part of your bowel is affected by Crohn’s?
• Have you had any surgery or are you due any surgery in the future?
• When was your last flare up?
• Are you able to work?

Life insurance

Life insurance can potentially be available at standard terms where the condition is considered mild. If there have been recent flare ups or you experience stronger symptoms, it’s possible that terms you receive will be at non-standard rates, meaning that there will be an increase in price. An increase in price never sounds great, and it isn’t nice to hear this, but life insurance is incredibly cheap and when the premiums are increased it’s often cheaper than people think.

As with any condition, if you are due to have surgery or are pending investigations then your application will probably be postponed until time has passed from the surgery or investigation. If this is the case, we have specialist insurers which we can look at using for you.

Critical illness cover

Again, if your condition is quite mild and the medication you use isn’t very strong then you might be offered critical illness cover at standard rates. The insurer will be interested to know how this affects your daily life. If the Crohn’s disease is more active and there are stronger medications being used, you might receive non-standard terms. There are also some insurers who will exclude Crohn’s disease if it is usually one of their claimable illnesses. It’s really important to be very clear about the terms that you are offered as some insurers might want to place a bowel cancer exclusion on the policy, and it’s best to avoid this if possible.

Income protection

Income protection can sometimes be a little trickier to get, and if you have Crohn’s disease then it’s likely that you’ll have to pay a higher premium and/or be offered a policy with Crohn’s disease excluded (meaning you cannot claim for things related to Crohn’s disease). Having an exclusion on the policy will automatically make you question the value of this cover, but there are so many ways that you might claim on this policy that it’s worth having a good look at.

Case study

Kathryn has produced a really handy video to explain this case study. A woman in her 30s came to Cura and after speaking with her, it was decided that she needed life insurance. This is because she had a family and a mortgage, and the debt would have been passed on in the event of her death. She had been diagnosed with Crohn’s disease as a teenager and over time had many flare ups and surgery to remove part of the bowel. She also had a low BMI of just over 16, and insurers will usually start to ask more questions if the BMI is lower than 17. The last thing to mention is that around 6 months before coming to us she had been to hospital for an acute flare up of the Crohn’s disease. Considering all of that, we arranged a decreasing life insurance policy for £290,000 over a period of 32 years with a premium of £29 per month.

We have helped a number of clients find protection insurance after being diagnosed with Crohn’s disease, so we think we are in a good position to give advice. If you have been diagnosed with Crohn’s disease and are looking for protection insurance, or if you just have any protection insurance questions, our advisers are on hand to offer their assistance.

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