Ulcerative Colitis Life Insurance – How to Get Approved

Living with ulcerative colitis can be challenging, especially when trying to secure life insurance. The good news? It’s possible to find coverage tailored to your unique health situation.

Understanding how insurers view ulcerative colitis can help you an informed decision, whether your condition is mild, moderate, or severe.

This guide will walk you through the steps to find the best policies, maximize your approval chances, and get the financial protection you deserve—without the hassle.

Ulcerative colitis is an inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) affecting approximately 1 million Americans.

When it comes to life insurance underwriting, the severity of your condition, coupled with the treatment you receive and the time since your last flare-up, determines your life insurance rate.

This guide details what to expect from high-risk life insurance companies specializing in ulcerative colitis underwriting.

Ulcerative colitis is classified as mild, moderate, or severe. The extent of your inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a primary underwriting factor that life insurers consider.

The underwriting concern for ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease is the increased risk of developing colon cancer.

If you have mild ulcerative colitis, you may wonder if you can get life insurance and at what price. Most mild cases involve:

• Adult-onset for most cases.
• Mild inflammation is limited to the left side of the colon.
• Infrequent flare-ups.
• Intermittent rectal bleeding, intermittent diarrhea, and abdominal cramps.
• Medications are limited to sulfasalazine, Mesalamine, Asacol, Rowasa enemas, Cort enemas, and over-the-counter drugs like Imodium.
• Medical marijuana use.
• Limited use of oral steroids during flare-ups.
• No anemia history.
• No skin, arthritis, or eye problems.
• No history of hepatitis.
• Good medical records and consistent follow-up.

Proctitis and proctosigmoiditis will follow the same life insurance underwriting as mild UC.

Moderate ulcerative colitis follows the same symptoms as mild but may also include:

• Mostly adult-onset.
• Left-sided or pancolitis (entire colon).
• More frequent flare-ups
• Shorter duration of time between flare-ups.
• More severe symptoms of bleeding, diarrhea, and abdominal pain.
• Medications include Entyvio or injections with Humira and more frequent use of Prednisone.
• Possible hospitalizations.
• Anemia
• Good medical records and follow-ups with physicians.

If you have a history of severe UC, having great follow-ups, current lab tests, and recent colonoscopies are critical to getting coverage.

Severe cases typically involve:

• Childhood-onset is common
• Frequent episodes with fever and heavy bleeding.
• Hospitalization & surgical treatment.
• Persistent symptoms after surgery.
• Unfavorable colonoscopy results indicating dysplasia.
• Weight loss greater than 10% of average body weight.
• Continuous use of steroid-based medications.
• Severe inflammation of the colon.
• Significant Anemia

Other factors affecting underwriting include liver function test results if significantly elevated.

As a reference, The American College of Gastroenterology (ACG) has an activity index to determine IBD severity.

If term life, universal, and whole life policies are not available, guaranteed issue life insurance might be the only option.

Any of the following diagnoses are uninsurable except for guaranteed final expense insurance.

• Fulminant ulcerative colitis
• Sclerosing cholangitis
• Pericholangitis.

Don’t worry if you do not have all details or know your exact severity as we’ll be able to figure it out when we speak.

We need to know:

• Ulcerative colitis diagnosis date
• How many flare-ups of ulcerative colitis have you had in the past six months, twelve months, 24 months, and the past five years?
• Hospitalization history.
• Medications and dosages taken for ulcerative colitis.
• Dates of steroid use.
• Surgical history or recommendations.
• Details of any significant weight loss.
• Colonoscopy dates, results, and whether you are overdue for a colonoscopy.
• Participation in clinical trials, including results and any side effects.
• Any other medical history like breast cancer or thyroid cancer?

If you were denied life insurance due to ulcerative colitis, let us know which life insurer declined. The most likely reason for the decline is applying to the wrong insurance company. We’ll use our quick quote process to get you the best offer possible.

Once we have the underwriting feedback, we’ll show you the best life insurance companies available.

The best life insurance company for you depends on your medical history.

Have you been rated or declined for life insurance?

Don’t get discouraged!

A prior negative experience was often due to working with the wrong life insurance company.

With our life insurance underwriting process, we get you to the right insurer the first time!

We use a quick quote process that takes 3-4 days to hear back from all companies specializing in UC.

With that being said, some of the best life insurance companies for ulcerative colitis have been:

• AIG-American General
• Banner Life
• John Hancock
• Prudential

Including the above, we shop at 15+ companies for every ulcerative colitis case.

We recommend convertible term life insurance for most cases.

Sometimes, a no-lapse guaranteed universal life insurance policy is the best option.

Some underwriting programs offer credits for a better rate when buying universal life insurance compared to buying a term life insurance policy.

It’s worth checking out, as the pricing may be similar.

Just Diagnosed? Most companies will postpone life insurance for 3-6 months after diagnosis. Companies want to see follow-up physician visits and treatment indications starting to work.

Life insurance underwriting will require a paramedical exam and a review of your medical records.

Your medical records must be current and in compliance with your doctor’s orders.

Underwriters want to know:

• Do you take your medications as prescribed?
• Are current colonoscopies available in your records?
• Are you overdue for testing, colonoscopies, and treatments?

Mistakes to avoid:

• Trying to time life insurance with remissions
• Skipping colonoscopies

Life insurance companies will postpone coverage until the tests have been completed.

Final Words

Contact us today to start your life insurance application with ulcerative colitis. There’s no obligation or pressure with our service. We’ll help you find the best life insurance rates available.