Life Insurance With Diverticular Disease
The two words get used interchangeably and they describe different situations.
One is a structural finding that a large proportion of older people have and most never notice. The other is an illness with episodes, and sometimes admissions.
An application is interested in which you have and how often it has happened.
The short answer
Diverticulosis means small pouches in the wall of the bowel, which is very common with age and frequently causes nothing. Diverticulitis is when those pouches become inflamed or infected, which can mean antibiotics, hospital admission and occasionally surgery. Those are different entries, and how many episodes you have had is the useful detail.
What it is
Diverticulosis is the presence of small pouches, called diverticula, bulging out from the wall of the large bowel. It becomes increasingly common with age and is often discovered incidentally during a colonoscopy or scan done for another reason.
Diverticulitis is inflammation or infection of one or more of those pouches, typically causing pain in the lower left abdomen, fever and a change in bowel habit. Mild episodes are managed at home; more severe ones can need hospital admission, intravenous antibiotics and occasionally surgery. Complications include abscess, perforation and bleeding.
Why it comes up on an application
- Diverticulosis with no episodes is a scan or colonoscopy finding, and the investigation is the entry.
- Diverticulitis is episodic, so the number of episodes and whether any needed hospital treatment is the information with the most in it.
- Admissions, scans during an acute episode, intravenous antibiotics and any surgery are all substantial and should be given with rough dates.
- Surgery for diverticular disease, including bowel resection, is a major operation and a significant entry that should be stated as such.
- Because it was usually found on a colonoscopy, there is almost always an investigation in the record even where nothing has flared.
What we would ask you
- Whether you have the pouches only, or have had episodes of inflammation
- How many episodes, roughly when, and whether any needed hospital treatment
- Whether you have ever had surgery for it
- How it was found in the first place
- Whether you are currently off work or working reduced hours because of an accident, injury or illness
- Whether you are waiting on any medical tests, appointments or treatment
- Whether you have been diagnosed with or treated for cancer in the last five years
- Whether a parent, brother or sister was diagnosed with cancer, heart disease or a stroke before 65
- Any medication you take
- Whether you smoke, and your date of birth
Pouches Or Episodes: Say Which
This is the distinction that does all the work, and the two words sound close enough that people use the wrong one.
Diverticulosis, ending in -osis, is the anatomy. The pouches are there. A great many people over 60 have them and will never have a day of trouble from them.
Diverticulitis, ending in -itis, is inflammation. It is an illness with a start and a finish, and it can recur. If you have never had an episode, say you have diverticulosis and have never had diverticulitis. That is a precise and genuinely favourable answer, and it is more informative than either word on its own.
Count The Episodes And The Admissions
For anybody who has had flare-ups, the shape of the history is what matters, and it is easy to describe.
One episode years ago managed with antibiotics at home is a different history from four episodes in three years with two hospital admissions. Both are honest answers to the question "do you have diverticular disease", and they are not remotely the same picture.
So give the count, the rough dates, and whether any involved hospital. If you have had surgery, say what was done. That is the information that lets us put a proper picture to an insurer rather than a label, and it is the difference between a useful application and a vague one.
Which cover is relevant
The usual starting point. An incidental finding with no episodes is a different picture from repeated admissions or surgery.
Pays on diagnosis of a listed serious condition, and diverticular disease is not one, though some policies cover specified surgery. Read the definitions rather than assume.
Genuinely relevant. An episode of diverticulitis can mean a week or more off work, and surgery means considerably longer, so this is a realistic claim rather than a theoretical one.
Common questions
What is the difference between diverticulosis and diverticulitis?+
Diverticulosis is having the pouches, which is very common with age and frequently causes nothing. Diverticulitis is those pouches becoming inflamed or infected, which is an illness with episodes. On a form it is worth saying which applies to you.
I have the pouches but have never been ill. What do I say?+
Say exactly that: diverticulosis, found on a colonoscopy or scan, no episodes of diverticulitis. It is a precise answer and a genuinely favourable one, and it is more useful than either word by itself.
Does diverticulitis affect life insurance?+
What any insurer decides rests on your whole picture and is their call. The information that shapes it is how many episodes you have had, when, and whether any needed hospital treatment or surgery.
Should I mention hospital admissions?+
Yes, with rough dates. An episode managed at home with antibiotics and one requiring intravenous antibiotics in hospital are different events, and the admissions are the substantial part of the history.
I had bowel surgery for it. How do I describe that?+
State it as surgery, with roughly when and what was done. A bowel resection is a major operation and a significant entry that should not be summarised as diverticular disease.
Cover that often goes with this
The gaps we most often find sitting next to this one.