Life Insurance With Haemorrhoids Or An Anal Fissure
These are among the least serious things on this list and among the most likely to have an investigation attached to them.
That is not a contradiction. Bleeding from the bottom has several possible causes and the harmless explanation is confirmed rather than assumed, which means a camera test is common.
This page is about declaring the investigation as well as the condition.
The short answer
Haemorrhoids and anal fissures are common and minor in themselves. The reason they appear on a list like this is that they bleed, and rectal bleeding is something doctors investigate properly rather than assume. So the significant part of the history is usually the investigation that followed, not the condition that caused it.
What it is
Haemorrhoids are swollen blood vessels in and around the anus, causing itching, discomfort and bright red bleeding. An anal fissure is a small tear in the lining, typically very painful during and after a bowel movement.
Both are usually managed with dietary fibre, fluids, topical preparations and treating constipation. Haemorrhoids are sometimes treated with banding or, less often, surgery. Fissures occasionally need prescribed ointments or a minor procedure.
Why it comes up on an application
- Rectal bleeding is routinely investigated, particularly over the age of 50 or where symptoms persist, so there is frequently a flexible sigmoidoscopy or colonoscopy in the record.
- That investigation is the substantive entry. Whatever it found, it happened, and a question about tests is asking about it.
- Banding, injection or surgery for haemorrhoids is a procedure and should be stated as one with a rough date.
- Persistent bleeding may also have prompted blood tests for anaemia, and iron deficiency found that way is its own entry.
What we would ask you
- Which you have had, and roughly when
- Whether there was bleeding, and whether it was investigated
- What investigation you had, and what it showed
- Whether you have had any procedure such as banding or 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
The Camera Test Is The Entry, Not The Piles
If you take one thing from this page, it is that the investigation is the part an application is interested in.
Haemorrhoids are not a condition that worries anybody. A colonoscopy is a significant procedure under sedation, and whether you have had one is a reasonable thing for an insurer to ask about. The two are connected because the first is a common cause of the symptom that leads to the second.
So the useful answer names both: the haemorrhoids or fissure, and the investigation with roughly when and what it showed. A normal colonoscopy is genuinely good information to be able to give.
Do Not Edit Yourself Out Of Embarrassment
This is worth saying because it is the real risk on this page and it is not a medical one.
People leave these conditions off forms because they would rather not discuss them, and in doing so they leave off the investigation too. An application missing a colonoscopy is incomplete in a way that an application missing haemorrhoids is not.
Nothing about declaring this is likely to be the difficult part of your application. Omitting it, and the test attached to it, could become the difficult part at claim instead. Our guide to whether life insurance pays out explains why.
Which cover is relevant
The usual starting point, and these conditions are rarely a factor. What is in the picture is whatever the investigation concluded.
Pays on diagnosis of a listed serious condition, and neither of these is one. Worth having for the risks it does cover.
Replaces earnings if illness or injury stops you working. A fissure can be genuinely disabling for a short period, and surgery involves recovery time.
Common questions
Do I have to declare haemorrhoids?+
Answer the questions you are asked. The more important point is to declare any investigation that followed, because a colonoscopy or sigmoidoscopy is a significant test and is a fair answer to a question about investigations whatever it found.
Will haemorrhoids affect my life insurance?+
They are rarely the interesting part of an application, and in any case what an insurer decides rests on your whole picture. The investigation behind the bleeding is the entry more likely to feature.
I had a colonoscopy and it was clear. Should I mention it?+
Yes, and it is useful information. A question about tests asks whether they happened, and a normal colonoscopy is a genuinely reassuring thing to be able to report rather than something to leave out.
I had banding done. Is that surgery?+
It is a procedure, and worth stating as one with a rough date rather than describing it as treatment. The same applies to injection treatment or an operation.
I would rather not put this on a form. Does it matter?+
It does, and the reason is the test rather than the condition. Leaving out an investigation makes an application incomplete, and incomplete applications are the main reason claims are examined rather than simply paid.
Cover that often goes with this
The gaps we most often find sitting next to this one.