There are a lot of people who had hepatitis in the past or are still infected. To be exact there are about 500 million who have a chronic form of hepatitis, not counting people who have the acute infections. Life insurance companies look at your overall risk to determine your eligibility. So your health is important in the process of getting covered and having hepatitis can limit your eligibility in some cases or qualify you for higher premiums. In many cases, hepatitis infection can go into remission and have minimal symptoms so no big risk there. However, the problem is that hepatitis is a condition of the liver which can cause scarring and inflammation. In some cases that can lead to cirrhosis or even liver cancer which is a huge risk to the insurance company. So can you get life insurance with Hepatitis? The simple answer is Yes. The most important factors affecting approvals are the severity of your condition and choosing the right life insurance company. The good news is that there are a handful of carriers who will give reasonable rates to someone who has hepatitis but it all depends on the details.
Factors Considered
There are few things the life insurance company will want to have in front of them before making a decision. Here are some factors that the life insurance underwriter will be looking at:
- Date diagnosed
- Acute or Chronic infection
- Liver Function Tests
- Liver Biopsy
- Alcohol Usage
- Duration of the disease
- Viral Load
Besides the following factors you can also expect the life insurance underwriters to look into your build, other medical conditions, dangerous hobbies, family history and if you are a smoker or not. Now before I forget to mention, depending on your type of hepatitis there are different outcomes the life insurance company will take.
Hepatitis A
Most occurring type of hepatitis but also the least dangerous form of the condition is hepatitis A. What makes hepatitis A different from other forms is that it will not turn into a chronic form. With this form of hepatitis, most people will be done with the condition within a few months since it’s a short-lived infection. Typically people who had hepatitis A will be immune to it forever once healed and no damage will be done to the liver in the majority of the cases. If you had hepatitis A you can get the best rates possible with most life insurance companies as long as you are not experiencing any symptoms. In other words, this type will not alarm the life insurance companies so you can easily proceed to assume you don’t have any other ailments.
Hepatitis B
Hepatitis B, unlike Hepatitis A can be an acute infection and also can turn into a chronic condition. If you had an acute infection with Hepatitis B that did not turn chronic with no symptoms over 6 months. You can get preferred rates sometimes but likely standard if you have normal liver function. Now if hepatitis B turns into a chronic version you can still get coverage. If your chronic hep b got treated and you can show a biopsy along with liver function tests showing normal function level you can qualify for the standard to substandard rates ranging from table 2 to table 6. Just remember the key is to be in remission with minimal liver damage. If you consume alcohol, have severe liver damage, cirrhosis or any other complications it is highly likely you will be declined for coverage.
Hepatitis C
Unlike other types of hepatitis, it is a little harder to qualify for better rates with Hepatitis C. Standard rates are possible if you don’t have any liver damage and your condition has been in remission for a long period of time. If you had minor liver damage expect substandard rates from table 4 to table 10 as long as your liver function test is no higher than 1.5 times normal range. Similar to Hepatitis B alcohol use, cirrhosis, co-infection or biopsy showing severe fibrosis will result in a decline.
Hepatitis Life Insurance Preparation Checklist
If you have any of the hepatitis conditions listed above you should know that there are some things you can do to get a better outcome than most people out there. It can be pretty difficult to secure a plan with hepatitis since lot’s of companies have a negative view on the condition. So let’s look at some things you can do to improve your odds:
- Wait it out– this may sound a bit unorthodox but if you were recently diagnosed with hepatitis it may not be the best idea to jump into a life insurance application since companies want to see at least a few years of treatment with stability in your condition. Also, if you had a Harvoni treatment that cures Hep C you also will want to wait at least 12 months since you’ll be able to get a standard rate.
- Quick Quote– this is one of the best techniques veteran life insurance agents use to find out before applying what to expect from the various companies. Basically, we send out an email blast with all your health details to underwriters at various companies without including your personal info to get potential offers. This offer will then be put with the application to further entice the company to stick to what they promised.
- Cover Letter– You have to put a cover letter on top of the application that provides details that can’t be included with the application. The goal here is to provide occupation info, family details, the purpose of coverage and any hobbies. It adds personality to the application!
- Work with a Broker– this will allow you to have access to a large pool of insurance carriers so they can be filtered out by the ones that offer best rates for hepatitis clients.
At the end of the day, each applicant’s situation will be different and will have a different outcome. But if you have a history of good follow-ups with doctors, completion of any labs and tests than you have a high probability of getting approved with lower rates.The best plan of action is to work with an independent agency that has agents who are experienced in placing higher risk cases. For that, you don’t have to look any further, call us today at 888-492-1967.
