Life Insurance With Tonsillitis Or Laryngitis
Sore throats are not a medical history. Operations and hospital admissions are.
This page is about the small number of people for whom throat infections became one or the other, and about declaring the rest briefly and accurately.
Laryngitis is included because it belongs to the same group, with one occupational angle worth drawing out.
The short answer
Occasional tonsillitis or laryngitis is an infection that came and went. Two things make it more substantial on an application: recurrent tonsillitis frequent enough to lead to a tonsillectomy, which is an operation with a recovery; and quinsy, an abscess beside the tonsil, which usually means a hospital visit and drainage.
What it is
Tonsillitis is infection and inflammation of the tonsils, causing sore throat, difficulty swallowing, fever and swollen glands. Most cases are viral and settle; some are bacterial and treated with antibiotics.
Recurrent tonsillitis, where episodes are frequent enough over a period, is sometimes treated by removing the tonsils. Quinsy, or peritonsillar abscess, is a collection of pus beside the tonsil, which generally needs drainage and antibiotics in hospital.
Laryngitis is inflammation of the voice box, causing hoarseness or loss of voice. It is usually viral and short-lived, but it can be chronic where there is persistent irritation from reflux, smoking or heavy voice use.
Why it comes up on an application
- Isolated infections are dated episodes with nothing continuing.
- Tonsillectomy is a general anaesthetic operation with a notable recovery, and it is a clear entry with a date.
- Quinsy means hospital, drainage and sometimes admission, and should be named rather than described as tonsillitis.
- Recurrent episodes are a pattern worth quantifying: how many a year, over how long.
- Chronic hoarseness is the one to be careful with. Persistent voice change beyond a few weeks is normally investigated, often by looking at the vocal cords, and that investigation is the entry.
- Heavy occupational voice use, teaching among them, is a genuine cause of recurrent voice problems and is worth mentioning.
What we would ask you
- How often you get throat infections, and over what period
- Whether you have had your tonsils removed, and roughly when
- Whether you have ever had quinsy or needed hospital treatment
- Whether you have had persistent hoarseness, and whether your vocal cords were examined
- Whether your work involves heavy voice use
- 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
Name Quinsy If You Had It
This is the one entry in the group that genuinely changes the answer, and it gets swallowed by the word tonsillitis.
Quinsy is an abscess beside the tonsil. It is painful enough that people remember it, and it is normally treated by draining the pus, often in hospital, with antibiotics. Some people are admitted.
A form answered as "tonsillitis" when what happened was a hospital visit for drainage has under-described it, and the record will show the attendance. Saying quinsy, drained, roughly when, is accurate and takes one line.
Persistent Hoarseness Is A Different Question
Short-lived laryngitis after a cold is unremarkable. Hoarseness that will not go away is not treated that way medically, and this is worth knowing.
A voice change lasting more than a few weeks is normally investigated, usually by looking at the vocal cords with a camera, because several things can cause it and they need distinguishing. That examination is an investigation and belongs in an answer about tests whatever it found.
For people whose work is their voice, teachers especially, chronic voice problems are also an occupational issue rather than only a medical one. If it has affected your ability to work, that is a direct question on most applications.
Which cover is relevant
The usual starting point. A tonsillectomy is a clean, finished entry; recurrent infections without surgery are a pattern.
Genuinely relevant for voice-dependent work. Teachers in particular lose weeks to voice problems, and tonsillectomy in an adult involves a real recovery.
Pays on diagnosis of a listed serious condition, and these are not among them. Worth having for the risks it does cover.
Common questions
Do I declare tonsillitis?+
Answer what you are asked. Occasional infections are dated episodes and a brief answer. Recurrent episodes, a tonsillectomy or quinsy are the parts with substance, and those deserve rough dates.
I had my tonsils out. How do I describe it?+
As an operation under general anaesthetic, with roughly when. In an adult it involves a real recovery period, and it is a clean, finished entry rather than an ongoing condition.
What is quinsy and why does it matter?+
It is an abscess beside the tonsil, usually treated by draining the pus with antibiotics, often in hospital. It should be named rather than described as tonsillitis, because a hospital attendance is a materially different entry.
I lose my voice a lot. Is that worth mentioning?+
Yes, particularly if it has lasted more than a few weeks at a time, because persistent hoarseness is normally investigated by examining the vocal cords. That examination is a test and belongs on the form whatever it showed.
My job depends on my voice. Does that change things?+
For income protection it matters. Chronic voice problems are a recognised occupational issue for teachers and others who talk for a living, and whether it has affected your ability to work is a direct question on most applications.
Cover that often goes with this
The gaps we most often find sitting next to this one.