High Risk Life Insurance

(Hard to insure, Pre-existing conditions, Smokers)

Do you have a pre-existing condition and/or take prescription drugs?

Have you been declined for life insurance or postponed for life insurance due to a pre-existing condition and/or prescription drugs? Have you been given an extraordinary low rate class due to a pre-existing condition and/or prescription drugs?

A pre-existing medical condition does not necessarily disqualify an individual from life insurance. Though it can create a challenge and will require some comparison to find the best insurance for individual situations and needs, it is many times possible to secure traditional coverage. In other circumstances, only a minimal high risk policy may be available.

It must be understood that every pre-existing condition for every individual is unique, and has to be treated as such.

In addition, not every life insurance company is going to rate you the same or charge you the same. Even if have been turned down by one insurer does not mean there is no one who will insure you. That might be the case, but even in such an extreme situation, you still have options.

These are many factors that come into play in determining how an insurance company will rate you.

Your rating is based on your medical questionnaire, medical examination, prescription history and the reports supplied by your doctors, lab results and hospital reports. 

Insurance companies assess your health condition according to the seriousness of the pre-existing condition and how probable is the success for your prognosis. It also depends on whether your condition is well managed with medication/treatment, or even when you had your last episode.

Pre-existing conditions can range from life-threatening heart disease or cancer to lifestyle changing conditions like diabetes or Crohn's Disease. Depending on the condition and the risk to life, insurance companies will vary in what is acceptable and what is not.

Conditions like cancer and other serious diseases are hard to find coverage because the life expectancy is very low.
Even cancer or another disease in remission is considered a high risk because it might attack again and still has a shorter life expectancy than someone in the same age group without the disease. In these cases, there may be specific waiting periods required of anywhere from 6 months to 2 years or more before you might be considered for life insurance coverage.

Looking over the condition and determining the risk to life is the key to determining if it is possible to obtain a rated insurance option or not. Non-life threatening conditions might be allowed by some companies while other insurance companies will not consider any pre-existing condition as insurable.

In some circumstances, If the condition is well-managed and a year or more has passed since the original rate was applied, then individuals might be able to request new underwriting and qualify for a lower premium. This depends on the particular disease and usually does not apply to conditions like diabetes.

For those who might end up being declined by every company for any type of traditional life insurance policy there are also 2 other options which include:

• Graded death Benefit Life Insurance

• Guaranteed issue Life Insurance

Unfortunately, only a limited amount of coverage at higher costs would be available, also known as final expense coverage. See our Simplified / Guaranteed life section.

Do you use nicotine products or are a smoker?

Would you like to receive non-smoker rates while being given the opportunity to quit smoking? We may be able to help you obtain non-smoker life insurance rates initially in anticipation that you will quit smoking within a defined period of time. If you aren't nicotine free within the limited time span, your rates would revert to smoker rates. Give us a call to discuss your options.   

As an independent agent, we have access to dozens of insurance carriers and we know which ones are more lenient than others when it comes to particular pre-existing health conditions or smoking. We will shop the market to find the best carrier, cost and coverage options for your situation.

Call us Today for a quote or to discuss and review your life insurance needs.