Can I claim Income Protection for recurring or chronic conditions?

Yes, you can claim for recurring or chronic conditions, but how these claims are managed depends on your policy's specific terms and whether the conditions are pre-existing. For chronic conditions like diabetes, arthritis, or chronic fatigue syndrome, you can claim each time the condition prevents you from working, subject to serving your waiting period. However, policies typically include 'recurrent disability' or 'continuation of disability' provisions that determine whether a new claim for the same or related condition is considered a new claim (requiring a new waiting period) or a continuation of the previous claim. Generally, if you return to work and then become disabled again from the same condition within a specified period (commonly 6-12 months), it's treated as a continuation of the original claim, meaning no new waiting period applies, but the total time claimed counts toward your maximum benefit period. If you've been back at work for longer than this 'linking period', the new disability is treated as a separate claim requiring a new waiting period. This can work both for and against you: you don't serve repeated waiting periods for recurring conditions, but your maximum benefit period is consumed faster. For pre-existing chronic conditions, policies typically exclude claims for the first 12-24 months, after which coverage applies if you've been symptom-free and treatment-free. Managing chronic conditions requires careful coordination with your insurer, comprehensive medical documentation, and often, ongoing partial claims as you work reduced hours. Some conditions like multiple sclerosis, lupus, or fibromyalgia may have irregular disability patterns requiring sophisticated understanding of your policy's recurrence provisions.