Is Affordable life insurance with lupus available?
Finding affordable life insurance with lupus is available if you know the secret. The secret is to only work with a special risk agent. Special risk agents are experts in finding affordable coverage for individuals with pre-existing medical conditions. These agents will usually have many years of experience working with all kinds of special risks.
Your agent will provide you with the biggest advantage when looking for life insurance with lupus. Much like you look for a physician who specializes in a particular type of surgery such as heart surgery. There are certain agents who know what companies offer the best prices for lupus.
Many times, smaller companies that may not be as well known are more aggressive in certain pre-existing medical conditions and are your best option.
It is important to remember that an independent agent who offers multiple carriers, will most often have the best access to the companies that specialize in underwriting life insurance with lupus.
Underwriting life insurance with lupus
When underwriting life insurance with lupus it is important for the underwriter to know how to properly evaluate the risk. Underwriters use a rating guide for most life insurance risks. Lupus can sometimes be one of the harder conditions to underwrite. Thus, one carrier may offer a rating class quite a bit differently than another carrier.
This why it is very important that your agent aggressively shop and negotiate with different companies on your behalf. The difference of a few hundred dollars per year can add up over the lifetime of the policy.
Systemic Lupus Erythematosus is an autoimmune disorder. They are 16,000 new cases annually; mostly young women. Some of the typical symptoms and findings include:
- Facial ” Butterfly” rash
- Other skin lesions
- Photosensitive
- Oral Ulcers
- Arthritis
- Kidney disorder
- Neurologic disorder (seizures, psychosis)
- Blood Disorder (low blood count)
- Immunologic disorder
- Positive antinuclear antibody
- arthritis
- positive blood test for other immune system disorder
- Pleuritis or pericaridtis
An underwriter will not only consider the diagnosis of lupus but must also consider the secondary symptoms. Typically, the presence of four of the above findings is 96% sensitive and specific for the diagnosis of lupus.
From an underwriting standpoint, the risk of life-threatening complications is greatest in the first 5 years of onset. Thus, someone looking to secure life insurance with lupus can expect a higher cost of coverage during this time period.
Causes of death are typically infections, clotting and cardiovascular complications, cancer, active lupus and lupus damage to various organ systems, and atherosclerosis.
The overall survival rates from the time of diagnosis have been improving and the 10 year survival rate is about 90%.
One note regarding discoid lupus. This is a limited disease with superficial skin involvement. It has no systematic features, although a small number of cases have been known to develop into systemic lupus. This diagnosis typically can be offered on a standard basis or a slight extra rating charge if present within 1st year of diagnosis.
The rating or extra premium charge for systemic lupus erythematosus depends primarily on the severity of the disease, type of treatment, and length of time since diagnosis.
Below you will find a chart and definition of how an individual would typically be rated when looking for life insurance with lupus:
- Present, current evidence of disease w/minimal progression, over age of 40- Within one year of diagnosis application declined; 2nd to 3rd years table G ( 175% extra premium); 4th to 5th year table E (125% extra premium); after 5 years table C ( 75% extra premium)
- In Remission, no evidence of disease and no medications, over age 40- Within one year of remission table D (100% extra premium); 2nd to 3rd years table B (50% extra premium); after three years standard ( no extra premium)
- For age 20 and younger- Declination
- For ages 21-40 – 50% to 75% extra premium
Here are the questions that an underwriter will need answer in order to evaluate if an application might be acceptable:
- Date of first diagnosis?
- Type of lupus diagnosed? I.E. Systemic lupus erythematosus, discoid lupus, drug induced SLE
- Taking any medications? If yes, need details
- Is lupus in remission or currently present?
- Have you had any of the following? Low blood counts, lung involvement, high blood pressure, Proteinuria, heart involvement, renal insufficiency, neuroligic disorder
- Used tobacco in last 5 years?
- Any other major health problems?
In addition to the above questions, your broker will need the amount of coverage, date of birth and plan of protection requested. I.E. Term life or whole life?
Remember, all life insurance companies use the same published rates. But, all life insurance companies look at your health and lifestyle differently when assigning a risk class.
If you are looking for the most affordable life insurance with lupus contact us at 1-888-393-9003 or mike@specialriskterm.com. We are here to help you secure the absolute lowest cost rate of life insurance with lupus.
