Life Insurance With Gallstones
A large number of people have gallstones and never know, because they are often found while scanning for something else.
The other version is unmistakable: severe pain after eating, sometimes with fever or jaundice, usually ending in an operation.
Which of those you have had is the whole of what an application needs to know.
The short answer
Gallstones split into two situations on an application. Stones found incidentally that have never caused symptoms are a quiet entry. Stones that caused attacks, or an infected gallbladder, or jaundice, usually lead to surgery, and gallbladder removal is a clear operation with a date that is far more useful to tell us about than the stones.
What it is
Gallstones are hard deposits that form in the gallbladder, mostly from cholesterol. They are commonly found on ultrasound.
Many cause no symptoms. When they do, the typical pattern is biliary colic, severe pain in the upper abdomen after eating. Complications include inflammation of the gallbladder, blockage of the bile duct causing jaundice, and inflammation of the pancreas. The usual treatment for symptomatic stones is removal of the gallbladder, generally by keyhole surgery.
Why it comes up on an application
- Incidental, symptom-free stones are usually just a scan finding, and the scan is the entry.
- Gallbladder removal is a clean, well-defined operation: it has a date, a method and a recovery, and once it is done the problem is generally resolved rather than ongoing.
- Complications are the detail that changes the picture: an admission with infection, jaundice from a blocked duct, or pancreatitis. Pancreatitis in particular is a significant event and should be stated by name.
- If you are waiting for surgery, that is a specific question on most applications, and waiting is different from having had it.
What we would ask you
- When the gallstones were found and how
- Whether they have ever caused pain or an admission to hospital
- Whether your gallbladder has been removed, and roughly when
- Whether there were any complications such as jaundice or pancreatitis
- Whether you are currently waiting for surgery
- 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
Surgery Makes This A Finished Story
Most conditions on this site are ongoing. This is one of the few with a definite ending, and that is worth understanding when you fill in a form.
Once the gallbladder has been removed, the gallstones are gone with it. There is an operation in your history with a date, and in most cases there is nothing continuing. That is a tidy entry, and saying "gallbladder removed in 2021, no problems since" is a complete answer.
So if you have had the surgery, lead with the surgery. People sometimes describe themselves as having gallstones years after the organ that made them was taken out, which is less accurate and less useful than the operation.
Name The Complications If There Were Any
This is where the real information is, in the minority of cases that had it.
Cholecystitis, an infected and inflamed gallbladder, usually means a hospital admission. A stone blocking the bile duct causes jaundice and often an urgent procedure. Gallstone pancreatitis is inflammation of the pancreas and is a serious event.
Each of those has its own name and its own place in a medical history, and none is adequately described by saying gallstones. If any happened to you, say which and roughly when, because that is a materially different history and an insurer is entitled to know it.
Which cover is relevant
The usual starting point. A resolved problem with the gallbladder removed is a different picture from stones still in place and causing attacks.
Pays on diagnosis of a listed serious condition, and gallstones are not one. Worth arranging for the risks it does cover.
Genuinely relevant here, because gallbladder surgery involves a recovery period and attacks before surgery can stop somebody working for days at a time.
Common questions
Do I declare gallstones if they never caused symptoms?+
If you are asked about diagnosed conditions or investigations, yes, and it is a quiet entry. They were usually found on a scan, so there is an investigation in your record, and saying they have never caused symptoms is a useful answer in itself.
My gallbladder was removed. What should I say?+
Lead with the operation and roughly when, rather than describing yourself as having gallstones. Once the gallbladder is out, the stones are gone with it, which makes this one of the few entries with a clean ending.
Does having had gallbladder surgery affect life insurance?+
What any insurer decides rests on your whole picture and is their decision. What we can say is that a resolved problem with a date reads differently from an ongoing one, which is why the operation is the useful thing to give us.
I had pancreatitis from a gallstone. Does that matter?+
Yes, and it should be stated by name rather than folded into an answer about gallstones. Gallstone pancreatitis is a significant event with its own place in a medical history.
I am on the waiting list for surgery. What do I put?+
Say that you are waiting. Whether you are waiting on tests, appointments or treatment is a direct question on our journey and on most applications, and it is a different position from having had the operation.
Cover that often goes with this
The gaps we most often find sitting next to this one.