Sjögren’s Syndrome & Life Insurance

Receiving a diagnosis of Sjögren’s syndrome doesn’t mean your protection insurance options have to be limited.

Our team of experienced advisers are on hand to help you throughout the process of getting your life insurance in place. We will chat with you about your diagnosis, research the market for the best options for life insurance, complete your application and get your policy up and running for you.

Things we need to know:

• When were you diagnosed with Sjögren’s syndrome?
• What treatment or medication do you use?
• Have you needed any steroid based treatment?
• Have you needed any support such as physiotherapy?

If your Sjögren’s syndrome is well controlled and not caused by another condition, you may find that life insurance is offered to you at normal terms. This means that your health has made no difference to the price of the life insurance that you have applied for, you have gotten the policy at the standard pricing.

Insurers will want to know if your Sjögren’s diagnosis has been diagnosed on it’s own, or it you have this condition alongside others. Where your diagnosis of Sjögren’s syndrome is combined with another condition such as lupus or rheumatoid arthritis, insurers will want to confirm the details of these diagnoses as well. We have dedicated pages for these that you can access further down the page.

It is possible that medication that is taken to treat the lupus or rheumatoid arthritis, could lead to the insurer offering Life Insurance at non-standard terms in the form of a premium increase. We know that this does not sound ideal, but an increase in premium doesn’t always mean silly money.

Our advisers are here to spend time with you to understand your health and then find the right insurer 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.

At the moment, people with Sjögren’s will generally find that critical illness cover is available, when you have been diagnosed for at least one year. Depending upon the strength of your symptoms your critical illness cover might be accepted at normal terms, or at an increased premium.

Where there have been significant symptoms with the eyes, the policy may come with a blindness exclusion. If the Sjögren’s syndrome is a result of a secondary condition such as rheumatoid arthritis or lupus, your application for critical illness cover will also need to include specific details of these diagnoses.

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

When you have primary Sjögren’s syndrome income protection may be available after you have been diagnosed for a year or more. This is because the insurer wants to double check how you are responding to treatment and if your symptoms are now well managed. It is likely that the offer of income protection will be at non-standard terms. This usually means that the premiums are going to be increased.

The insurer will want to know if the Sjögren’s syndrome has caused you to have any time off work, and how it affects you on a daily basis. If you have had significant symptoms in your eyes it is possible that your income protection policy will come with a blindness exclusion.

GET AN INCOME PROTECTION QUOTE

Sjögren’s syndrome that is linked to a diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis or lupus, will result in your application for income protection being declined. When this happens it is worthwhile looking at short term policies like accident, sickness and unemployment Cover. These policies offer short-term income replacement between 12 and 24 months if you are unable to work due to disability, long-term injury and/or redundancy.

Accident, sickness and unemployment policies can be arranged without the Sjögren’s syndrome having any impact to your eligibility. Whilst this is the case, it is important to be aware that claims placed on the policy will not be paid for existing medical conditions, so at the point of a claim Sjögren’s syndrome will be excluded from the claims set.

GET AN ACCIDENT, SICKNESS AND UNEMPLOYMENT QUOTE

Are you going on holiday? We have teamed up with a specialist travel insurance broker, that can help you to find insurance that suits your Sjögren’s syndrome. For more details, please visit our travel page here.