Stickler Syndrome & Life Insurance

When you are diagnosed with stickler syndrome there is a lot to take in and learn about your health. You are already likely to be very aware of different symptoms that you can experience, but you now have a name for what you have been living with, which can be so useful in planning for the future.

When you speak with one of our advisers we will chat to you about your health, so that we can research and find the best insurer for you. We are going to ask you things like:

• When were you diagnosed with Stickler syndrome?
• Do you take any medications?
• Have you needed any eye surgery?
• Do you need any mobility aids?

The insurer will want to know details like this so that they can determine how strong your symptoms are. This will then help them to assess your life insurance application. It is quite likely that most insurers will ask you for permission to speak with your GP. This is so that they can double check that they know everything about your diagnosis before offering you life insurance.

This can sometimes take a bit of time, but we often think that it is quite a good thing. By asking to see this report the insurer is getting a clear picture of your health from your GP, which means that it’s very unlikely that there will be a debate about them not understanding your health if there ever is a claim.

For many people living with Stickler Syndrome it is likely that your life insurance application will be offered at non-standard terms. This means an increase to the policy premium. We know that doesn’t sound great and whilst it doesn’t make it any better, life insurance is generally very very cheap, so any increases are usually not as bad as people are expecting.

If you have been declined life insurance in the past, please be assured that we have access to many insurers and can potentially look at specialist insurers for you if need by. Our advisers are here to help you every step of the way.

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.

Critical illness cover for people with Stickler syndrome is often not available in the standard insurance market. Any application for critical illness cover that you place will be reviewed by one of the insurance providers senior underwriting members, to establish if they can offer the policy to you. You will have the greatest chance of getting critical illness cover if your condition is considered to be mild.

We do have access to some specialist critical illness options for you, that we can consider. There are specific eligibility criteria to access them and our advisers can quickly help to determine if you can get these policies.

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

Income protection for people with Stickler syndrome will not typically be available on the standard insurance market. With income protection policies insurers do often put exclusions to the policies claims set. For your condition it is likely that they would be excluding claims relating to your eyes, but as Stickler syndrome is a connective tissue disorder it can effect everywhere in the body. This can make it quite hard to find a policy that doesn’t have an exclusion for most places in the body.

Your income protection application will be assessed by a member of the insurers senior underwriting team to see if they are able to offer terms of cover. Your application for income protection is more likely to be considered if your symptoms are mild and the condition has not impacted upon your ability to work.

There are some specialist options for income protection that we might be able to look at, that are arranged through your employer. Our advisers will be able to let you know if you are eligible for these options.

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As an alternative you may wish to consider accident, sickness and unemployment cover that provides between 12-24 months of short term income replacement in the event that you are unable to work due to disability, long-term injury or involuntary redundancy.

Accident, sickness and unemployment policies are not medically underwritten which means that the cover can be put in place at a standard premium. However you should be aware that any claim that you place on the policy will exclude inability to work due to pre-existing conditions including the Stickler syndrome.

GET AN ACCIDENT, SICKNESS AND UNEMPLOYMENT QUOTE

Are you planning on traveling abroad? Visit our dedicated travel page here, to make sure that you get the cover that you need.