Initially, sufferers do not require insulin but will progress to requiring this after several months or years.
It is therefore commonly misdiagnosed as type two, although generally people with Lada tend to be in a healthy weight range and they do not respond well to the usual tablet forms of medications.
Some consider this a subset of type one diabetes, although it seems more likely to straddle both type one and type two, often being coined “type 1.5 diabetes”.
Critical illness plans
As might be expected, critical illness plans do not cover the less severe diabetes type two, however many plans do cover type one.
Who is covered between the life assured and children does present some variations however.
In terms of the coverage for type one diabetes the market is pretty consistent as insurers will generally cover a “definite diagnosis” of Type one diabetes as long as the patient is insulin dependent.
Gestational diabetes and type two diabetes are excluded from all wordings and some insurers also include a specific exclusion for Lada.
Even where this is not specifically excluded however, diagnosis of Lada is unlikely to result in a claim based on current definitions and medical classifications as our doctors explain:
"Currently, from insurers' latest wordings, it is unlikely that a claim for Lada will be successful as it is not a definite diagnosis of type one diabetes and is not clearly defined into a specific category by current classification systems.
"This may well change in the future though as more is learnt on this subject.”
All insurers currently classify type one diabetes as an additional payment condition and as such the amount that would be paid in the event of meeting the criteria would differ depending on the sum assured at point of claim.
*The AIG YourLife Plan will pay 100 per cent to a maximum of £35,000 of the child cover sum assured (can be different to the life assured)
**Guardian will pay 25 per cent to a maximum of £50,000 of the child cover sum assured (can be different to the life assured)
***Vitality will pay 15 per cent of the child cover sum assured (can be different to the life assured).
With so many people in the UK living with diabetes, it is important that awareness of the condition is increased.
Type two diabetes is largely preventable by living a healthy and active lifestyle while type one is not.
