Can I get affordable life insurance after a heart attack?
It is true that finding affordable life insurance after a heart attack is more difficult. However, if you work with an agency that is an expert in special risk life insurance, your odds of finding affordable coverage increases.
Finding affordable life insurance after a heart attack is more of an art. The agent must have experience and knowledge of this niche area of medical underwriting in order to secure the best rate.
Your agent should negotiate on your behalf. A skilled agent can sometimes persuade an insurance company to offer a much better rate than a novice agent or an agent with no experience in this area.
Your agent works for you. Put him to work to find you the most affordable rate in the industry for life insurance after a heart attack. Be up front with your medical history.
Don’t leave anything out. If you exercise regularly, make sure your agent knows. The slightest details may help you save thousands of dollars over the life of your policy.
What exactly is a heart attack?
Let’s face it. Heart attacks are a leading cause of death in America. They typically result from blood vessel disease in the heart.
An infarction(heart attack) occurs as the blood supply to an area becomes totally blocked, usually as a result of coronary artery disease.
An area of partial blockage may clot or may rupture, causing an obstruction of the blood supply to the heart muscle. If the blood supply is cut off drastically or for a long time, the muscle suffers irreversible injury and dies.
Disability or death can result from this depending on how much heart muscle is damaged.
How are heart attacks diagnosed?
The diagnosis of myocardial infarction is usually made by the presence of severe chest pain, EKG changes and elevated cardiac enzymes.
Silent heart attacks can occur when a patient has no knowledge that an attack occurred at some time in the past. These are fairly common, especially in diabetic, and may be noted on the EKG that is done during the insurance exam workup.
How are customers underwritten for life insurance after a heart attack?
For an insurance company that specializes in underwriting life insurance after a heart attack, the following factors typically lead to a higher premium charge:
- Younger ages
- More than one heart attack
- Had angioplasty or by-pass surgery
- ongoing episodes of angina or chest pain
- EKG changes
- Diabetes history or kidney disease
- Obesity
- Uncontrolled hypertension or renal disease
- decreased left ventricular function
- degree of coronary disease
- complications such as persistent arrhythmias
- poor lipid control
On the flip side of the coin, individuals without the above factors and/or have a normal stress EKG (treadmill test) within the past year will offset the higher premium charge.
In most cases, an individual with favorable factors with a history of myocardial infarction can be issued a policy. The exact rating and cost is based on each individual applicant. Those individuals with one vessel disease, normal left ventricular function, and improved cardiac risk factors may be standard risk.
Following are a list of the typical questions and underwriter will need answered when evaluating life insurance after a heart attack:
- Date of heart attack?
- Have you had any of the following test or procedures completed? Echocardiogram, Coronary catherization, Coronary angioplasty, By-pass surgery, Heart failure, Arrhythmias?
- Are you currently taking any medication (including aspirin)?
- Have you had a follow-up stress test since the heart attack? If yes, was it normal?
- Had any chest discomfort since heart attack?
- Had any of the following: Abnormal lipid levels, overweight, high blood pressure, irregular heart beat, diabetes, peripheral heart disease, cerebrovascular or carotid disease?
- Have you used tobacco in the last 5 years? If yes, what type?
- Any other major health problems?
In addition to the questions above the following information will be needed to secure the best rate on life insurance after a heart attack:
- Male or Female
- Date of Birth
- Amount of Death Benefit
- Plan type requested? Term or permanent(whole life)
Which insurance companies will underwrite life insurance after a heart attack?
As mentioned earlier, the number of insurance companies that will make the best offer for life insurance after a heart attack are limited.
This is a very special niche area of underwriting. Many of the big well known insurance companies are some of the worst companies to go to when looking for life insurance after a heart attack.
These are still great insurance companies, but they prefer not to underwrite aggressively on this particular type of risk. Insurance companies all evaluate risk differently. Some of the insurance companies that are in this specialty risk market include:
- Prudential
- Banner Life
- North American Company for Life & Health
- United Of Omaha
- Transamerica
- Lincoln National Life
- American General Life
- Principal National Life
- Met Life
This is not an all inclusive list. There are other companies that may offer coverage based on small death benefit amounts or other factors.
Specialriskterm.com
Our expertise is in finding the right carrier that will give you the best chance at finding affordable rates for life insurance after a heart attack. This is all we do. We know the marketplace. We know the carriers to look at. Remember, if coverage cannot be found thru traditional underwriting, you may still qualify under a guaranteed issue program.
We know how to negotiate the best offer. We have over 30 years experience placing life insurance on individuals that have had pre-existing medical conditions.
If you are searching for life insurance after a heart attack and would like a free consultation, please contact us at 1-888-393-9003 or e-mail me at mike@specialriskterm.com Thanks for reviewing this post.
