Life Insurance for People with Digestive Diseases: What You Need to Know
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Digestive diseases can pose major challenges, affecting everything from your lifestyle to how you choose your health insurance policy. These diseases can also affect your ability to get life insurance. If you have a digestive disease like Crohn’s, IBS, or celiac disease, chances are you can still buy most life insurance policies, but your condition and your treatment may affect your premiums. The more you understand about how diseases like Crohn’s can affect your life insurance, the better prepared you’ll be to find the policy that works best for you.
Chronic illnesses, including digestive diseases, can absolutely affect your life insurance. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), chronic diseases are conditions that last for one year or more. Additionally, chronic diseases require ongoing medical attention and/or limit your activities of daily living. Cancer and diabetes are examples of chronic illnesses, though digestive disease like Crohn’s Disease, IBS, and celiac disease are also chronic.
The CDC explains that chronic diseases are the leading cause of illness, disability, and death in the United States, so they can affect your life insurance policy. According to Fidelity Life, individuals living with chronic illnesses can still get approved for life insurance policies, and often, they can qualify for the same types of life insurance policies that are available for healthy people. To maximize your chances of getting approved for life insurance, it’s important to show that you’re managing your chronic illness.
Fidelity Life states that typically, people with chronic diseases, such as digestive diseases, may qualify for a term life or permanent life insurance policy.
A term life insurance policy, the most popular type of life insurance, has relatively low premiums, but those with chronic illnesses may pay higher premiums because their health issues make them riskier to insure. Term life policies last for a certain amount of time, or a term, which is often between 10 and 30 years. If the person insured passes away during the term, their beneficiaries receive a benefit. But if the term expires before the person passes away and they don’t renew the policy, no benefit is paid out when they do pass away.
Permanent life insurance, or whole life insurance, lasts for the insured’s entire life as long as they continue to pay their premiums. Permanent life insurance tends to have higher premiums than a term life policy, and these policies can also accrue cash value that you can borrow against later on. These policies may be best for individuals who can afford the higher premiums, especially if they’re expected to live a longer life and might outlive a 30-year term on a term life policy.
According to Money to the Masses, Crohn’s Disease can affect life insurance. When buying life insurance with Crohn’s Disease, your premium can reflect the severity of your disease. Medical underwriters will review your application and evaluate the additional risk that your Crohn’s Disease creates. Every underwriting team evaluates criteria differently, so it’s possible that one life insurance provider might approve you while another could deny you. The process can also result in different Crohn’s Disease life insurance rates.
If you have minor symptoms and your Crohn’s Disease is well-controlled with medication, then you might see just a minimal premium increase. Providing details about all of your treatment information, including when you were diagnosed, the medications you use, and any past surgeries, can help the medical underwriters and can demonstrate that you’re actively controlling your condition, increasing your chances of being approved for life insurance.
Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a gastrointestinal tract disorder that makes your gut more sensitive than typical. According to the National Institute of Health, IBS may be controlled with diet and lifestyle changes. This condition is fairly common, and since it doesn’t typically lead to death, it’s unlikely to increase your life insurance premiums or make it difficult to get coverage.
Celiac Disease is an autoimmune disease in which eating gluten can damage the small intestine, according to the Celiac Disease Foundation. It’s a common disease, and it’s hereditary. Left untreated, Celiac Disease can increase your risk of developing coronary artery disease and small bowel cancers, both life-threatening conditions. It can also lead to autoimmune disorders like type 1 diabetes.
Adhering to a gluten-free diet is the only treatment, and strictly following that diet can lower your risk of developing another condition. So, similar to Crohn’s Disease, having Celiac Disease can increase your life insurance premiums, but if you’re managing it well, chances are you can still get approved.
You can get life insurance with Crohn’s Disease and other digestive diseases, but you’ll need to be strategic in how you apply. Crohn’s and Colitis Canada recommends that individuals with digestive diseases apply for life insurance when they’re in remission, since that makes them more insurable. Additionally, take an active role in your care. Have regular check-ups to prove that you’re under medical supervision, and that you’re working to regulate your condition.
When shopping for Crohn’s life insurance or life insurance when you have other digestive diseases, take time to shop around and compare quotes. Every life insurance company calculates their premiums differently, so your rates and coverage might vary significantly from company to company. You can get free, personalized life insurance quotes online today. Once you have your quotes, compare them by looking not only at the cost, but also at other factors like your benefit amount and any exclusions.
Finding the right life insurance policy when you have a digestive disease can take time, and you may face denials, so be prepared to be persistent. With a little time, chances are you’ll find the right policy for your needs.
Paige Cerulli Paige Cerulli is a freelance content writer and journalist who specializes in personal finance topics. She graduated from Westfield State University and brings more than a decade of professional writing experience to the ConsumerCoverage team. Paige’s work has appeared in outlets including USA Today, Business Insider, and more.
