Will Rheumatoid Arthritis Affect Life Insurance?
Life insurance is one of helpful ways to cope with financial problem in the future. That’s what most people think! But unfortunately, it’s not easy for everyone to have this insurance. For instance, if you have a chronic inflammatory condition, such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA), it will affect the way of how you get affordable life insurance.
In general, osteoarthritis (OA) has better insurance rates than RA
Many elderly people are easier to have fatigue, aches, and pain in some parts of their body. Even some say that ibuprofen is now their friend.
It’s normal if your overall health gradually decreases as you age. Therefore, there are some adjustments in lifestyles you need to follow in order to keep healthy. For instances, you need to pay more attention on your diet, the quality of your sleep, and do exercise regularly.
RA is most commonly found at the ages of 40 to 60. However some experts believe that age is not a risk factor of the disease. In fact, not all elderly people have it. Even OA (osteoarthritis), arthritis associated with wear & tear of cartilage in the joint, is also not entirely linked to the age!
But RA it is unusual arthritis since the effect of the disease can be systemic and affect the overall health. The abnormality of the immune system is the main reason.
Normally, the immune system plays a key role for the defense system of the body. But in autoimmune disease such as RA, the immune system goes awry. It can mistakenly attack the wrong targets such as healthy tissues and cells.
Synovium, soft tissue in the joint, is the primarily target of the abnormality immune system in RA. Without known reason, the immune system attacks this lining membrane. And eventually, the inflamed synovium affects other parts of the joint (such as tendons, bones, and cartilage).
The bad news, RA is commonly more difficult to control and treat than OA. This is the key point of why OA has better insurance rates than RA.
Both OA and RA can be serious if these diseases are poorly controlled, but the effect of poorly-controlled RA can be more significant than OA. And the same thing goes for the cost of the treatment. See more differences of both arthritis types in here!
OA is painful, too – and even it may lead to disability. But many times it can be managed just with prescribed anti-inflammatory medications, see also OA treatment options!
On the other hand, the battle with RA can be more complicated. Although the severity of the disease plays a key role of how far the treatment should go, but many times it is treated with steroids, immunosuppressive medications, or other treatments that can be nearly as tough on an individual as some chemotherapy medications for cancer!
Major checklists you need to know!
Overall, in fact finding the best rates on life insurance if you have arthritis (especially RA) is not as easy as finding car insurance. But the following are pieces of helpful information to make it easier.
Can you get life insurance if you have RA?
The good news, most patients with this inflammatory arthritis are qualified for conventional life insurance, a kind of insurance that requires a medical exam.
But with poor information in this issue, you may be more difficult to get the insurance. If you want practical option and to boost your best chance at approval, you can speak with an independent and knowledgeable agent (someone who is licensed with some different insurance companies)!
The next step, how much will it cost?
Once you know that you are qualified for the insurance, the next question is how much will the insurance cost? This is the most crucial step you need to concern carefully!
To assess the cost rate, the disease is classified into3 major class; mild substandard, moderate, and severe cases.
The mild substandard rating is the best case scenario. It is a condition of when the disease symptoms (such as joint pain, stiffness, and swelling) are well controlled with NSAIDs alone. NSAIDS is anti-inflammatory medications.
For this scenario, the disease should not require other expensive medications. The use of other treatments such as methotrexate (a DMARD medicine) and steroid are usually only required during flare attack!
