Can I get life insurance with psoriatic arthritis?

Usually, yes. For most people with settled psoriatic arthritis on stable treatment, life cover is achievable, and standard or lightly loaded terms are realistic with the right insurer. Outright declines for life cover are rare. What you pay depends on how active your PsA is, what treatment you are on, and your general health.

Will my psoriasis be assessed separately from my arthritis?

Insurers will ask about both, but the better ones understand that psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis are two sides of the same condition rather than two unrelated problems. Around one in five people with psoriasis develop PsA, so this combination is familiar to underwriters who work in this area.

I'm on a biologic for my PsA. Does that count against me?

Not in the way people fear. A biologic tells an underwriter your condition needed serious treatment, and also that it is being actively controlled. Someone stable on a biologic can be assessed better than someone with similar disease and no treatment at all.

Does spinal involvement change things?

It is part of the picture and insurers will ask about it, alongside how it affects your movement and your work. It does not rule cover out, and where the spine is involved the assessment often looks closer to how ankylosing spondylitis is treated.

Can I get critical illness cover or income protection with PsA?

Sometimes, and we will be straight with you about the limits. Critical illness policies do not pay out for psoriatic arthritis itself, and income protection is the hardest product for inflammatory conditions, with some policies excluding condition-related claims. We will explain exactly what a policy does and does not cover before you apply.

Psoriatic arthritis life insurance

Psoriatic arthritis is its own condition, and it deserves to be underwritten as one. If your PsA is settled and your treatment has been stable, life cover is usually achievable, and often for far less than people fear. What matters is going to insurers who understand PsA rather than filing it under a general arthritis heading.

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Two conditions on one application

Around one in five people with psoriasis go on to develop psoriatic arthritis, so most applications carry both a skin condition and a joint condition. Generic systems often handle that badly, treating the pair as two separate problems stacked on top of each other rather than one condition with two ways of showing itself.

PsA also varies enormously. Some people have a few sore joints, others have spinal involvement, nail changes, dactylitis or eye inflammation. An underwriter who only sees the diagnosis has to assume the harder end. Our job is to make sure yours is described properly.

There is a practical risk in guessing. A decline leaves a footprint other insurers can see, so approaching the wrong insurer first can make everything afterwards harder. Where it helps, we check quietly with insurers before anything formal is submitted.

What insurers look at with psoriatic arthritis

When you were diagnosed and how the condition has behaved since
How many joints are involved, and whether your spine is affected
How active it is now, and when your last flare was
Your treatment: methotrexate and similar tablets are routine to underwriters; biologics and JAK inhibitors show a condition that needed serious treatment and is being actively managed
How your psoriasis is doing, and how much of your skin it affects
Related things like uveitis, nail involvement or bowel symptoms, which prompt more questions rather than refusals
How much the condition affects your daily life and your work
Wider health, including heart health and weight, which insurers consider alongside PsA

Settled PsA on stable treatment is a case that can genuinely achieve standard or lightly loaded terms with the right insurer, even when the skin is also involved.

Psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis together

You do not need to hide either condition, and you should not have to explain the link yourself. Insurers who assess PsA well already understand that psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis are two expressions of the same immune process, and they price the picture rather than counting two conditions.

If your skin is currently well controlled, say so, and tell us what treatment is keeping it that way. If it is flaring, that is worth knowing too, because sometimes a short wait produces materially better terms and we would rather tell you that than push an application through.

How it works

A quick, private health check online. A call with a specialist adviser who deals with inflammatory arthritis every day. Discreet enquiries with the right insurers where it helps. Then we handle the paperwork and keep you updated. Straightforward cases can often proceed without a GP report, and a good rheumatology letter often helps your case.

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Written and reviewed by

Andy Stevens CMap

Co-Founder and Protection Specialist

Andy has spent more than thirty years placing life insurance for people insurers find difficult, including inflammatory arthritis, and he still speaks to clients himself. He co-founded Arthritis Life so that people living with arthritis get an adviser who understands modern rheumatology rather than a form that treats every type the same.

Diploma in Regulated Financial Planning (CII)
Member of the Chartered Insurance Institute
Over 30 years in impaired risk life insurance

Last reviewed 29 August 2026. This page is general information about insurance, not medical advice or a personal recommendation. More about us.

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Living with a different condition? Read about rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, osteoarthritis, gout or fibromyalgia.

You may also want to read about declined life insurance with arthritis, critical illness cover with arthritis or income protection with arthritis.