Life insurance for kidney patients is open to apply for, but there is no single answer: an insurer asks about your kidney disease, kidney failure, dialysis or transplant, and decides on what you tell it. Below is what application forms and insurers' underwriting guides print about the kidneys.

Whenever your kidney results are to hand, the short form on this page can book a free chat by telephone, and the FCA-authorised broker who rings starts from your history.

What do the stages of kidney disease mean?

The NHS (page last reviewed 22 March 2023) says chronic kidney disease is staged from 1 to 5 using your eGFR, a blood-test measure of how well the kidneys filter. Stage 3a is an eGFR of 45 to 59ml/min and 3b is 30 to 44; stage 4 is 15 to 29; and stage 5, below 15, means the kidneys have lost almost all of their function. A urine test adds a second grade, and a higher stage on either means more severe disease.

The NHS overview is hopeful: many people with CKD live long lives with it, and it reaches kidney failure in around 2 in 100 people who have it. If you would like to talk the diagnosis through, Kidney Care UK runs a free, confidential Support Line on 0808 801 00 00, and the charity also helps with benefits, welfare and money.

A stage on a clinic letter does not settle the outcome on its own. Aviva's underwriting guide for advisers (PT15357 0926) says the terms it suggests are "based on the average presentation of each medical condition and are not guaranteed; we assess each applicant individually".

Can you apply while on dialysis or waiting for a transplant?

You can make an application. The NHS describes dialysis and a kidney transplant as treatments that may be necessary in advanced CKD, and on a form they come up in the follow-up questions about your condition. Aviva's adviser application form (AL55001 08/2026) asks when you were diagnosed and whether you are under any form of follow up or awaiting investigations or referral. Royal London's form asks whether you are "awaiting referral, investigation, results or treatment", so a wait for a transplant or for test results belongs in your answers.

A wait need not end things. Aviva says it may defer an application for a set period where the risk is too high now but may improve, or while investigations or their results are awaited. Royal London's underwriting guide for advisers (June 2026, P8G0011/15) describes a postponed decision, with terms possibly offered after a specified period, and gives awaited tests as one typical situation. Whether dialysis, or the years since a transplant, would shift one insurer's terms more than another's is a fair question to save for the broker's free return call.

Which kidney questions are on the application forms?

Royal London's Personal Menu Plan application form (P1A0023/24, an adviser document) asks about your physical health in the last 5 years: "Any disorder of the kidney, bladder, prostate or thyroid?" Its examples include blood or protein in the urine, multiple urine infections and kidney or bladder stones, and a yes means naming the condition and completing a further medical details section. Two questions about the last 3 years can catch kidney care too: regular medication or treatment for four consecutive weeks or more (or review by a doctor), and referral to a specialist or advice to have investigations, blood tests among them.

Legal & General's application form for adviser-arranged cover (W11904 02.26) asks whether, in the last 5 years, you have seen a doctor, nurse or other health professional about "any condition affecting your kidneys, bladder or prostate, for example blood or protein in the urine, kidney or bladder stones?" If you are unsure whether to mention a condition, it asks you to tell it anyway, and Royal London's guide makes the same point: better too much than too little. Aviva may also ask for a full blood profile, which tests things like kidney and liver function. The guide to questions asked on a life insurance form shows how these sections fit together, and the rules on disclosure set out the duty and its consequences.

Does diabetes with kidney disease change the answer?

It can. Under diabetes, Aviva's guide says: "We will be unable to offer cover if the customer also has a history of stroke/TIA, kidney disease, heart disease or has had limb amputations". Royal London lists "diabetic nephropathy (kidney problems)" among complications that "could lead to increased rating, or we may be unable to offer cover". If both conditions apply to you, life insurance with diabetes covers the diabetes side.

What if polycystic kidney disease runs in your family?

Family history is asked separately. Aviva's adviser application asks applicants aged 49 or under whether a natural parent, brother or sister was diagnosed with, or died from, polycystic kidney disease before age 60. Its guide says a family history of an inherited condition does not automatically mean a higher premium or an exclusion, but that regular surveillance for polycystic kidney disease will almost certainly mean an extra premium, and an exclusion where critical illness cover specifically covers the condition. It expects screening for some rare conditions, this one included: "If they have not been screened we may not be able to offer terms." More is on family medical history and life insurance.

What can happen after you apply?

Aviva's guide sets out the possible decisions, and different ones can apply to different benefits. Standard rates mean acceptance as originally quoted; a premium loading is an extra charge for added risk; an exclusion is not applied to life cover, though it is commonly applied to critical illness and disability cover; and an application can be deferred or, where the risk is too great, refused.

A higher price or a refusal is one insurer's reading of your history, and another may read it differently. The next steps after a refusal are in what to do if declined for life insurance, and life insurance with medical conditions gives the wider pattern within health and underwriting. A broker can approach specialist insurers as well as mainstream ones, though no offer can ever be promised.

Once you feel ready, leave your name and number on the short form; the FCA-authorised broker who returns the call charges you nothing, and your kidney history is where that conversation starts.

Frequently asked questions

Does life insurance cover kidney disease or kidney failure?

Life insurance pays out on a death during the policy, and a kidney condition you declare is weighed in the terms offered at the start. A lump sum on a diagnosis of kidney failure is what critical illness cover is for, under that policy's own definitions.

Can I get life insurance after a kidney transplant?

You can apply. Expect questions on when you were diagnosed and whether you are still under follow up. How one insurer rates a transplant, compared with another, is for the broker to explain on the free call-back.

Can I get life insurance with polycystic kidney disease?

Your own diagnosis would be answered under the kidney questions, and a parent's, brother's or sister's under family history. The Aviva family history question applies to applicants aged 49 or under.

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