Why Is it Hard for Crohn's Patients to Get Life Insurance?
Life insurance carriers specialize in identifying a person’s risk factors and how they affect her mortality. Risk factors may come in the form of recurring chronic conditions, lifestyle habits and the level of self-care a person exhibits. It may be hard for Crohn’s patients to get life insurance when several risk factors are at work.
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Crohn's Disease
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Crohn’s disease--also known as inflammatory bowel disease, or IBD--appears as chronic inflammation within the digestive tract that can vary in its degree of severity, according to Digestive Bytes, a digestive health reference site. Symptoms can recur anytime throughout a person’s lifetime, making Crohn’s disease a chronic condition. With proper treatment and diet, individuals lead full and active lives with little to no effect on their life expectancy. According to the Easy Issue Life Insurance resource site, when applying for life insurance, individuals with Crohn’s may be required to pay higher premiums or they may be denied coverage altogether.
Insurance Underwriting
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Life insurance underwriting practices determine life expectancy probabilities based on a combination of health factors. With a Crohn’s disease patient, the severity of his condition carries considerable weight in terms of the premium costs and overall eligibility for coverage, according to Life Insurance Advisors. Insurance companies typically hold off for a minimum of six months before assigning a health rating to individuals who’ve recently been diagnosed with Crohn’s disease. According to Insure.com, this time period allows companies to determine which risk class a person falls under.
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Symptom Severity
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When determining eligibility, insurance carriers consider symptom severity as a primary factor when considering coverage, according to Life Insurance Advisors. If someone applies for life insurance in the midst of a flare-up or shortly thereafter, it may be hard for him to get accepted. Individuals who have frequent flare-ups to the point where symptoms appear every three to five months may not be able to get coverage at all.
Age
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Individuals diagnosed with Crohn’s disease at an early age may have more difficulty obtaining life insurance coverage or may pay higher premium rates. As symptoms can become progressively worse the longer a person has the condition, older individuals may carry a lower risk in underwriting terms. According to Life Insurance Advisors, many insurance carriers list 45 years old as the cutoff age when determining the risk factors associated with Crohn’s disease. Lower premium rates may apply for individuals diagnosed after age 45.
Considerations
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When shopping for life insurance coverage, individuals affected by Crohn’s disease may want to consider doing research before approaching companies. Insurance companies familiar with the condition may actually charge lower rates, according to Easy Issue Life Insurance. The amount requested for coverage can also have a bearing on a company’s willingness to insure, so lower amounts may increase the likelihood of acceptance. Insurance carriers may also look favorably on individuals who demonstrate ongoing self-care in terms of regular checkups and healthy lifestyle habits.
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References
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