Brittle Bone Disease & Life Insurance

We understand that having brittle bone disease can bring difficulties to some of life’s day to day tasks, but it doesn’t mean that you stop living. 

We have arranged insurance for people living with brittle bone disease, who had children and mortgages, that they wanted to arrange financial security for. 

Just because you have an illness, it does not mean that your insurance needs are any less than anyone else.

When it comes to making your application, you’ll be asked for information like:

• The type of brittle bone disease that you have?
• When you were diagnosed?
• The frequency with which you have have fractures and other symptoms?
• Any other related secondary conditions and complications associated with the condition?

An insurer may ask you if they can see a report from your GP, so that they can make sure they have a clear picture of your health. The insurer typically pays for this and we sort out all the backwards and forwards between them and your GP, keeping you up to date along the way. 

Where life insurance is available to you, it’s often at a higher premium than someone will pay that doesn’t have brittle bone disease. Generally speaking, the stronger your symptoms are the higher the premiums will be. It is our view that there is no hardship in asking the question of what it might cost. You are under no obligation to accept the terms that are offered.

If you have particularly strong symptoms of brittle bone disease, it is possible that we will need to approach a specialist insurer for you.

Our job is to make the process more simple for you. 

Critical illness cover pays out a cash lump sum of money, if you are diagnosed with a medical condition that is listed in the insurer’s claims set e.g. cancer, heart attack, stroke.

For people living with brittle bone disease, applying for critical illness cover can be complex. That’s not to say you won’t find cover, it just needs some in-depth research, which is what we are here for. 

We specialise in helping people with the condition to find the best insurance for their needs. If you have a very mild form of the brittle bone disease with few symptoms and infrequent fractures, insurers may consider your application. It’s likely your application will be reviewed by the insurers senior medical underwriting team.

You’ll be required to share information about the full extent of your condition, any complications or secondary conditions that you have and the frequency of fractures. In the event that an insurer requests a GP report, they’ll cover the cost of that, and please do not be concerned it is a pretty standard process for many health conditions. You simply sign a form saying the insurer can see your medical history and we sort all the rest.

It’s also important to note that any cover offered may come with certain medical conditions excluded or a higher premium. If your symptoms are considered to be moderate or high, then we might need to look at specialist policies for you as an alternative. 

Income protection pays you a replacement of your monthly income, if you are unable to work due to ill health.

Having brittle bone disease can limit options that are available for income protection cover. This is because having brittle bone disease, you are seen to be at a higher risk of having an injury that causes you to take time off work. 

But, that doesn’t mean that it’s not possible. There are providers who will consider cover in mild cases of the condition. 

Any income protection application will assess the amount of time you’ve had to take off work as the result of your brittle bone disease. This will be a key factor in the insurer’s decision to offer you cover.

Generally, these applications need to go to senior medical underwriting teams for assessment. 

If you do find that the terms for income protection don’t suit you, or you cannot secure the right cover, then it may be worth considering Accident, Sickness and Unemployment Cover. This is a different sort of policy that provides you with a monthly income replacement of 12 to 24 months if injury, disability or voluntary redundancy results in you being unable to work.

With this sort of policy, medical underwriting is required. That means that your brittle bone disease won’t have any impact at all on the terms of the policy. This does, of course, simplify the application process significantly. But do bear in mind that these policies will have exclusions around your existing condition. 

If you have brittle bone disease, you’ll need to declare this when applying for travel insurance. It could make your travel insurance application more complex, so speak to a specialist travel insurance broker who can help you to get the right cover based on your condition. Find out more here.