HealingWell
Search Close Search
☰

Crohns and Life Insurance

Support Forums
>
Crohn's Disease
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply
12
❬ ❬ Previous Thread |Next Thread ❭ ❭
Posted 11/30/2011 1:42 PM (GMT 0)
I am 26 years old, was diagnosed with CD about 6 months ago. Feeling great now that I've started Humira, and otherwise perfectly healthy.

Yesterday I got rejected from my company's optional life insurance. I wanted to increase the amount so that my husband and future children would be secure if something happened to me. Anyway, I couldn't get it because I have Crohns. Of course, the obese 50 year old guy who's on the verge of a heart attack can get it, but the 26 year old health-nut with CD can't. (***?!)

So, I wanted to see if anyone else had this problem? And if so, what did you do about it??? Are there private companies that sell life insurance to people with Crohns? I don't care what it costs, I just want my husband to be secure in the unlikely case that something (non-accidental, I have accidental life) were to happen to me.
Posted 11/30/2011 3:33 PM (GMT 0)
I have never been able to get any sort of insurance other than home or car. Even travel insurance is a nightmare even though I had never had to claim for any travel insurance incidents. There are companies that do cover CD but they rate the premiums really high, they wouldn't cover me for anything linked to CD for life, critical illness or income protection or any oher immuns system conditions so basically as so much can be linked to this group of illnesses so unless I die from something like lesser spotted swamp fever, and even then they would argue, they wouldn't pay out so no point in me paying the huge premiums.

If you only have CD then insurance companies will view each case differently but make sure you disclose all medical visits not matter how trivial they seem or they could say at a later date you haven't disclosed relevant information if a claim is made. In UK if you have a pension there may also be an element of life cover built into it as well. If I die whilst working for my employer then they will pay my beneficiary 4 times my annual salary as a lump sum on top of the beneficiaries annual pension.

I recommend going to a specialist company that deals with pre existing conditions, they shouls be able to give you the best advice but search around yourself as well.
Posted 11/30/2011 5:29 PM (GMT 0)
I have only been able to get it thru my employer.  Whenever I retire I will be left without anything.  Grrr...Crohns Disease sucks!
Posted 11/30/2011 5:45 PM (GMT 0)
You might want to contact an insurance broker. My guess is that you may be able to purchase insurance but it will be very expensive. I was being denied standard life insurance when my only diagnosis was anemia. Crohn's definitely puts you in the high risk pool. (I'm speaking from the US, I don't know about other countries.) Maybe one day our government will fix the health care system, but until then we are screwed!
Posted 11/30/2011 6:42 PM (GMT 0)
I count myself so lucky that I bought my life insurance policy (term) about a year before my diagnosis. I agree that you should talk to a broker.
Posted 11/30/2011 10:23 PM (GMT 0)
I get the basic amount through work, but the additional coverage requires EOI (Evidence of insurability). I get turned down because of the Crohn's. So I can only get the basic amount (incomeX1).

Posted 11/30/2011 11:32 PM (GMT 0)
i have had similar problems, however, just having crohn's did not create an out right decline.  The insurance broker I have been working with says the crohn's surgery is what did it for me however, afyer 2 years, I can apply again.  Will probably be a higher cost but still can get some.  So, I suggest you find a good broker and then tell them everything.  I did and I asked to find out what they could do prior to them doing their "insurance medical check".  I did not want to waste my time.  Now, that all said, I have heart issues and a few other meeical issues so it will always be difficult to purchase outside of work for me.  However, My broker said just having crohn's was not a reason for denial.  my surgery was, and surgery for many other conditions is also a denial until a wait period has passed.  I hope my experience helps

 

Posted 11/30/2011 11:38 PM (GMT 0)
I only have the minimal 25k plan from one my parents started for me back pre Dx anything since then I get denied for
Posted 12/1/2011 12:13 AM (GMT 0)
I got denied as well, although they stated that it was because of my abnormal LFT, for which they want me to have a liver biopsy. Hell no! I know ppl with Crohn's who have been accepted, to a greater cost, of course... (I'm in Canada).
Posted 12/1/2011 4:28 AM (GMT 0)
Wow, never though this would deny me getting life insurance.... I'm pretty sure I have some through work but haven't really tried to get additional coverage... Maybe time to look into that.
Posted 12/2/2011 5:12 AM (GMT 0)
My work said that all employees will now have Life Insurance.. I wonder if that will include me??
Posted 12/2/2011 1:13 PM (GMT 0)
If you are in the USA, then I believe you can not be rejected for a pre existing condition.  Bush signed that into law when he was president.
Posted 12/2/2011 3:19 PM (GMT 0)
We have the option at work to get up to 3x our yearly salary with out a medical check. Its not as much as I'd like to have for my husband and kids but it would be enough and I count myself lucky to get that much with CD.
Posted 12/3/2011 12:57 AM (GMT 0)
Mine is 1x.. Better then nothing..
I did find out that I will be covered.. WOO HOO!!
Posted 12/3/2011 5:35 AM (GMT 0)
you absolutely can be rejected for any optional life ins through work...they have to give you a certain amt with no health questions if they offer that for everyone...for instance i can onl;y get 4 times annual salary in life ins through work- no more. i cannot get ANY outside of work on my own. if i die my wife and daughter are screwed.
Posted 12/3/2011 8:16 AM (GMT 0)
I have a term rider with my husband's life ins. policy and also a smallish whole life policy myself. I was not able to get it until about 12 years ago. The insurance company had reevaluated their statistics on Crohn's Disease and I was able to get decent rates. FYI, the company is Met Life. I don't know if they're still using those same guidelines today, though.

I am on long term disability from my job but still have group medical/dental/vision benefits as well as term life insurance through that company. I had initially opted for 3 times my annual salary as the term life policy amount, but when I went out on DI, the most I could get was 1 1/2 times my annual salary.

Glad to hear you'll be covered, Wolfie!
Posted 12/3/2011 11:19 AM (GMT 0)
I used an insurance broker and in 2007, at age 67, I was able to get 10 year term life insurance even though I had Crohn's. Ths cost was high, $230 per month for $150000 but my wife was worried about it and we could afford it. Life insurance for people with Crohn's is available if you have the resources to pay for it.
Posted 8/17/2012 7:28 AM (GMT 0)
Life insurance shoppers with crohn's disease, cancer, diabetes and other common ailments, take heart. There are strategies that you can employ to obtain life insurance coverage, often at a great price, but a good outcome requires that you properly shop the market or have a good agent do so for you. Source: why you should buy life insurance
Posted 8/17/2012 9:08 AM (GMT 0)
at my work i can get up to a certin amt of coverage without an exam or medical questions...but once i want more (i think 4 or 5 times salary) then i have to have an exam and would be denied due to pre-existing...good luck if you are still looking. its almost impossible to find life insurance with a condition like crohns. if you do find a policy it will exclude anything related to crohns (which when you die and its time to pay they will try their darndest to tie anything to the crohns to avoid paying) and it will be outrageously expensive...if i remmeber correctly a policy i found a few years ago when i was looking was around $800 a month and i was 35 years old at the time!
Posted 9/1/2012 11:07 PM (GMT 0)
i got mine through work and asked for the 100,000 plan because they were doing a special but they told me they could only do 60,000 without asking health questions so i took that and let it be.
Posted 12/11/2013 7:16 PM (GMT 0)
I am 23 with Crohns and just got approved with a company called Primerica. The premium is obviously higher than those with standard risk as we are considered higher risk. If you would like a quick quote, I'd be happy to help you out! I'm a licensed life insurance agent with XXXXX. Just email me at XXXXXX. As someone with Crohn's I know how frustrating it can be.

Post Edited By Moderator (Ides) : 12/11/2013 3:58:47 PM (GMT-7)

Posted 12/11/2013 11:00 PM (GMT 0)
coribeth - welcome to Healing Well! Probably your excitement at finding our great CD community caused you to only skim the forum rules. You cannot advertise your business here. Thanks for understanding.
Ides ~ moderator
Posted 12/11/2013 11:57 PM (GMT 0)
i know not many people do this but if it's your last resort you could put away a certain amount of money each month in a bank account and pay into it faithfully like you were paying a company. if you put 3 to 4 hundred a month into it for like 20 years you'd have 72,000 - 96,000 thousand dollars, just a crazy sugestion iguess, good luck with everything.
Posted 12/12/2013 1:49 AM (GMT 0)
I'm 26. I've been denied a couple times. I've given up looking for the time being. No one will insure me.
Posted 12/13/2013 3:25 PM (GMT 0)
I successfully obtained life insurance from Transamerica five years ago, when I was 32 years old. I was in remission at the time, and their request for medical records focused on the previous 3 years, which did include a hospitalization. I pay through the nose for it - a premium that is four times the cost of my (healthy same-age) wife's nearly identical coverage.
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply
12