Getting life insurance is already a task that most people avoid because of the difficulty level it has. The truth is that getting life insurance doesn’t have to be the most daunting thing in the world. It’s actually quite simple, you just have to make sure you are working with an independent life insurance agency, not just anyone, one that specializes in high-risk clients. We will get into all that good stuff in this article. Don’t let your medical condition take control of your life and steer you to not get life insurance because if people with no medical condition say it’s hard then it’s got to be harder with a medical condition. WRONG. Life insurance with a pre-existing medical condition is a real thing, it’s not easy but not impossible! Again, you just have to work with the right people, like us! In this article we will be revealing the steps to getting life insurance with pre-existing medical conditions, and why you should work with the right agency. The following are some key points from this article;
- A pre-existing medical condition is a health issue that you have prior to applying for a life insurance policy.
- When it comes to life insurance you need to be completely honest with your condition. It will be worse for you if you decide to not tell the truth or if you decide to leave important things out.
- When you have a medical condition, there are a few things that life insurance companies will look at to determine whether or not you can get coverage and at what rate you can get that coverage. Their criteria include things such as the type of condition, the severity of it, treatment, age of onset and some other variables, let’s discuss this in detail.
- The first and most important factor will be who you work with. If you have a pre-existing medical condition, make sure you work with an independent life insurance agency that specializes in high-risk cases (that’s us). Why? Because an independent agent/agency has the ability to shop around with many companies to make sure you get the best rate on the market.
What exactly is a pre-existing medical condition?
Before we get into the juicy details we want to state what exactly a pre-existing medical condition is because we want to make sure we are all on the same page here. A pre-existing medical condition is a health issue that you have prior to applying for a life insurance policy. A wide range of major and minor health issues could be considered pre-existing. Keep in mind that taking certain medications could result in life insurance denial but remain calm because as long as you work with an independent agency who understands your condition they will find you a company that understands your condition as well. Most companies want you to stay on top of your medications so if that’s you then you may be able to get a better rating than those who aren’t on top of their medications. A health condition could be considered pre-existing if you received treatment or medical advice for that issue from six months to five years ago. You are not alone, according to a January 2017 report by the Department of Health and Human Services, 50% of Americans under 65-131 million people have a pre-existing condition.
Life Insurance with Pre-Existing Medical Conditions
If you have pre-existing medical conditions you are considered a high risk to the life insurance company. The question on your mind is “can I get life insurance with pre-existing medical conditions?” The answer is “yes,” most of the time, and “ it depends” some of the time. The most important factor will end up being who you work with because simply comparing quotes online won’t do. When you have a pre-existing medical condition the lowest rate on the quote engine won’t necessarily be the company that insures, or favors, your specific situation. If you are looking for coverage and want us to recommend a company simply drops us a line here, or give us a call. If you want to learn more let’s discuss some important factors when shopping for life insurance with pre-existing conditions.
What is your Pre-existing Condition?
When it comes to life insurance you need to be completely honest with your condition. It will be worse for you if you decide to not tell the truth or if you decide to leave important things out. Life insurance companies know how to find out the truth, even if you decide to buy a no medical exam policy (which we don’t recommend because it will be expensive). The type of pre-existing condition is perhaps the biggest consideration when shopping for new life insurance. Life insurance companies rate conditions differently based on the level of risk they believe are associated with it. When considering conditions such as cancer, many insurance companies may not accept that level of risk since there is not a long life expectancy associated with these types of conditions. Here is a list of pre-existing conditions:
- Diabetes
- Heart disease
- Cancer
- Stroke
- Depression
- Anxiety
- Sleep apnea
- Arthritis
- Bipolar disorder
- Anemia
- Drug and alcohol
- Crohn’s disease
- Benign growths and tumors
- Kidney/ liver failure
- Skin conditions/ cancer
- Ulcerative colitis
How to get life insurance with a pre-existing condition
- Work with an independent brokerage- The first thing you should do is pick up the phone and give us a call because we have your best interest in mind and we want to make sure you are getting the best rating possible. Working with us allows us to shop around for quotes on your behalf because let’s face it, who has time for all that shopping? It’s important to shop around for quotes especially when you have a medical condition because you still deserve a fair rating, premium, and coverage amount!
- Apply- Once we have found you the best life insurance company we will then start the application process for you. During the application process, we take the time to ask the questions that a life insurance underwriter will want to know. This is an important step and you need to be 100% honest! Your agent is like your lawyer and the life insurance company is the police. When you are convicted of murder and you didn’t tell your lawyer the whole truth the police are bound to find out and that’s something they will use against you. If you tell your lawyer everything they will work with you and help you get away with murder. This only works if you tell the complete truth! During your application process, you will need to tell your agent the prescriptions you are taking and how often you visit your physician and whether or not you are monitoring your medical condition.
- Medical exam- Every life insurance policy unless it says otherwise will consist of a medical exam after your application. The good news is that you get to choose when and what time you would like to undergo your medical exam and a nurse will be sent out to take your blood pressure, check your height and weight, and to take your blood/urine sample. They then take their records to the underwriters of the insurance company. We always recommend for you to stay away from strenuous activities the night before and to schedule your medical exam in the morning so you don’t have to starve yourself all day since this is a fasting examination. We also recommend for you to drink two glasses of water before your exam because it proves to have increased better results during your labs and avoid that morning joe (it will cause your blood pressure to skyrocket).
- Underwriting- During this step, your application has been submitted to the life insurance company of your choosing and the company’s underwriters are now reviewing every detail of the application to make sure you were telling the truth 100%. Then they review what they need to review like your medical records or DMV records.
- Approval- This is the best step of all, your approval step. You will receive notification of your approved application for life insurance and BAM you have coverage! The whole process takes about 6-8 weeks before you get notification of approval or denial. Once you have been approved you will need to pay your first premium payment and that’s it, the whole thing is over.
What Life Insurance companies look at
When you have a medical condition, there are a few things that life insurance companies will look at to determine whether or not you can get coverage and at what rate you can get that coverage. Their criteria include things such as the type of condition, the severity of it, treatment, age of onset and some other variables, let’s discuss this in detail.
First and foremost the company will look at the type of medical condition that you have. This will determine whether you will get a standard health rating or be rated up for coverage due to being a higher risk. For example, with something like clinical depression you wouldn’t have a problem attaining coverage, but with type 1 diabetes you will run into major hurdles. The severity of the condition will play a huge factor as well, usually ranging from mild, moderate or severe depending on the doctor’s diagnosis.
Just so you know a rating for someone who has a pre-existing condition generally breaks down into the following categories which include:
- Preferred Plus
- Standard
- Mild Sub-Standard
- Medium Sub-Standard
- Sever-Substandard
The substandard ratings are typically referred to as Table 2 or Table B, Table 4 or Table D, and so on. For those who might end up being declined by every company for a traditional life insurance policy there are two other options for life insurance which are:
- Graded Death Benefit Life Insurance
- Guaranteed Issue Life Insurance
If your condition is well under control with this treatment is something that works in your favor. Also things like frequency of hospital visitations, lifestyle and success of treatment all weigh in to determine your rate. Other variables include things like your build, family history, tobacco use and if there are any other medical issues that you are addressing.
Why you should work with an independent life insurance agency
The first and most important factor will be who you work with. If you have a pre-existing medical condition, make sure you work with an independent life insurance agency that specializes in high-risk cases (that’s us). Why? Because an independent agent/agency has the ability to shop around with many companies to make sure you get the best rate on the market. In addition to that, an experienced agent will know which company insures your risk. If you get declined for life insurance with one company, that doesn’t mean there isn’t another company that will insure you under the same circumstances. That’s why it’s important to work with an agent that has access to this information. Just so you know every life insurance company have their own niche and if you apply on your own to a company that is one of the best like John Hancock, but you have diabetes and you didn’t know that John Hancock specializes in sleep apnea, not diabetes. They decide to approve your application but they rated you super high because they don’t specialize in diabetes like Prudential or Banner Life. If you would have applied with Prudential or Banner Life your ratings wouldn’t be high like what John Hancock gave you because both companies specialize in diabetes and since they specialize in diabetes they are more knowledgeable and lenient with their diabetic clients. This type of information is not common for you as a consumer to know about hundreds of life insurance companies, but that’s why we recommend for you to work with us or another capable life insurance agency of your choosing.
Let’s use John as an example to simplify things.
John has a medical condition and has applied to company A directly and got declined. Now John went to work with an independent agent Joe, who recommended company B and C for his specific condition. What Joe is able to do is use the same medical exam that John used for company A to shop with company B and C to see which company will provide the most favorable outcome. That not only means getting coverage for John but getting that coverage at a better rate.
Free Life Insurance Quotes with Pre-existing Conditions
To be able to receive an accurate life insurance quote with pre-existing conditions you should give us a call today because putting in your information in our quote engine or anyone else’s isn’t going to give you an accurate quote because quote engines don’t have an area for you to describe your medical condition. You are no obligated to working with us if you don’t want to but we are here to offer you free quotes with no obligation!
If you have a pre-existing medical condition it is practically impossible(and impractical) for you to try to figure all of this out on your own. As the first online life insurance marketplace, we have years of experience in working with high-risk clients and fitting you with the life insurance companies that will provide you with coverage to protect your financial responsibilities. We take a few steps to make sure that you are able to get coverage. We can use one medical exam to shop with all the companies and we always attach a cover letter with your application to show positive trends in treatment for your condition. This ensures the likelihood of your chance of getting approved. Feel free to give us a call or hit the chat button below for any assistance. If you have any further questions or feel like we missed something, please drop us a comment below.
