If you have become a victim of a heart attack and need life insurance, you’re far from alone. Having an acute heart problem is certainly a frightening experience. It’s a wake up call regarding our mortality at the very least. Are you wondering if you can get life insurance after a heart attack or even heart surgery? Have you heard rumors about how expensive life insurance would be or thought you’d never qualify?
There is good news, you can get life insurance after a heart attack, even with a preexisting condition like heart disease. We help people find affordable coverage on a daily basis.
How do we do this? It starts by working with life insurance companies that specialize in heart conditions such as heart disease, heart attacks or even CHF, congestive heart failure. Then it really comes down to extensive experience in high risk life insurance life insurance cases . You can fill out a quote request on this page to get our services started for you. Our services are always free.
Heart Attack Life Insurance Options
Well, like anyone who has heart disease, you will have a tougher time finding coverage and your heart condition will impact your rates and what you may have access to. There is no way around it now or in the future.
The good news is, you still may obtain affordable coverage. After your recovery, if you do not already have life insurance, it is time to take action to protect those most important to you.
The key is to find an independent agent/broker who works higher risk cases like yours. Certain insurers will be difficult to qualify for. Many will not accept your condition. Many insurance companies will rate you up sky high.
Be sure you have the right advocate, an independent agent who can sort it out for you and has dozens of companies to work with. That is tip number one to obtain coverage that is affordable.
Next, be sure you are following your doctors guidance, by taking all medications, following a good, healthy diet and appropriate exercise regimen. Your goal is to first better yourself personally, but you want to be able to show progress to any insurance company you may apply to. Convincing them of your personal commitment to becoming a healthier person can improve your chances of receiving the best offer.
Mentally, make sure you know what to expect during your application. Your agent should explain the process which varies depending upon the insurance company and policy you are applying for.
Though you may not be able to obtain certain carriers policies due to your heart condition, your patience in working thru the process a seasoned independent agent can pay off in spades.
For most people who have had a heart attack or heart problems, we generally recommend whole life insurance versus term or universal life. If you know your needs for coverage are in a defined period of time, whole life may not be ideal since you are paying for lifetime benefits. However, if you are looking for the best life insurance policy after a heart attack, whole life insurance from the right insurance company will be the easiest to qualify for. It is your independent agent or brokers job to advise you towards the carriers who will best meets your life insurance needs.
Additional Heart Conditions like CHF (Congestive Heart Failure) will really limit your choices depending on your overall health profile. While you still may be able to obtain full, first day whole life insurance with congestive heart failure you should talk with a very experienced life insurance professional. Only a couple of niche life insurance carriers will offer full 1st day whole life insurance.
Instant Quotes For Life Insurance After A Heart Attack
If you are age 50+ or a senior citizen looking into life insurance after a heart attack, I’m going to suggest you consider no exam whole life insurance. Using the Final Expense tool on this page you will be able to shop companies with policies that are very lenient with a heart attack history. These policies will be much easier and faster to qualify for. The are designed for people 50-90 in less than very good health.
If you would like to have term life insurance and want to know your best option at this time, it would be best to have a conversation with us. Our time is always free. Quality term life insurance is harder to qualify for, period.
While pricing information is available there are no specific questions for the instant term quoting tool. It does not know you have had a heart attack and/or other preexisting condtions you have. There are questions the insurance company would need additional details on to see if they can approve you for those rates when you have heart issues.
This is the key reason to speak to an expert that weed out insurance companies that won’t be able to make you a good offer. On a quality term life insurance policy, you should expect to be a rated substandard risk. Life insurance professionals call this “Table Rated.”
Now, if you have minimal damage to your vessels and have changed your lifestyle, it is a possibility that you could get standard rates noted in our term instant quoting tool. Be sure to adjust the “Health Class” under the term tool to “Standard.” I’d suggest adding 25-50% to the price and work with your budget. We see many approvals for heart attack victims with a table rating as such. However, as stated earlier, standard rates are possible. Preferred rates are very unikely. 1 in 100 cases of heart attack history will be approved better than Standard.
Maybe your heart specialist has told you that you are in “excellent” health and your thinking the insurance company should give you “preferred rates.” First of all, that is very good! Remember, they see patients daily who have major heart problems that may be chronic or accute. Your heart attack of the past is still relevent to the insurance company underwriter from a risk standpoint. It damaged part of your heart. Compared to someone’s health history rated “standard” the insurance company underwriter must consider any current and past health problems as risk. Yes, you will be compared against people who have general good health that have no diagnosis of heart issues. Of course the life insurance company wants the applicant without any health crisis or prescribed prescription medications. On the same token, the underwriter will also take into consideration, improvements you have made in your health hablits and lifestyle. Ladies and gentlemen, don’t take it personal, life insurance is pretty cold and dry. It is statisical.
The insurance company underwriting your life insurance policy will be determining the cost of insurance after your formal application and medical information is received. Before application, be sure you have a complete list of your prescriptions you have been prescribed by all your doctors. Your indepedent advisor will need this to sort out companies which cannot accept certain medications you might have been prescribed.
If full medical records are ordered from your doctor, it may be some time before the insurer receives them. They must wait for your doctor’s office to send them. For other policies, the insurer may use electronic records provided by medical reporting companies that allow them to make an instant decision and start coverage within a day or two. Without exception, your Rx report will always be pulled by the life insurance company if you are looking for the most affordable life insurance.
This is standard stuff, so don’t be alarmed. It is how the life insurance business makes its decisions and guarantee their ability to cover death claims while while hoping to offer you a policy as the victim of a heart attack.
If it is important to remember, all applicants who apply for medically underwritten coverage have certain application requirements. Whether the insurance company reviews medical information electronically or the “old fashioned way, ” you will be assessed as to your overall risk to the model they use.
The difference here is the medical condition (heart attack) which the “very healthy” person does not have on their record. With certain policies, you may just have to be patient and wait for an answer.
If it makes you feel better, very few people qualify for the best rates for term life insurance if they have any medical conditions or medications they are taking. Those ultra low rates we hear about require youth and excellent health.
Anyway back to you…
Of the many companies in the quoting tools, there will be a few that will be “best” for heart issues, period. We do use a few that will not show up in there.
What Will Each Life Insurance Underwriter Want to Know?
For starters, expect that you will be looked at under a microscope because of your request for life insurance after the heart attack. Gone is the bill of perfect health. It is vitally important that you are perfectly honest when applying. You’re trying to obtain life insurance for a heart condition and the insurance company will be acquring medical history information from various sources including you.
Health questions will vary from insurance company to insurance company. They will all see you a bit differently. A good advocate will be lining you up with a carrier in which you are likely to get the best offer (lowest premium).
So don’t sugarcoat, sandbag or withhold information you feel is none of the insurance company’s business. Heart attack life insurance will require full disclosure on your part.
The more information the insurance company has, the more likely they are to extend an affordable offer to you.
Insurance companies get nervous when an evasive or resistant applicant presents themselves. The typical response is…decline or additional premiums.
Not good for your life or health insurance record if you are declined either.
The reality is, for a number of the best policies, there is a good chance you will be taking a medical exam, at the insurance companies expense to obtain the best rates. It all tends to come out anyway.
What Factors Do Insurers Consider?
After a traumatic event like a heart attack, it is only natural to feel the reality and shock of how frail life can really be. For many life insurance consumers, the temptation will be to apply immediately after a heart attack crisis. A piece of advice I will give you here… wait until you are fully or at least reasonably recovered from your heart attack. Three to six months is the general rule of thumb.
When reviewing your application for heart attack life insurance, underwriters will look at several different factors:
- Your Age
The older you were when you had your heart attack, the better off you are. That’s within reason, of course. Obtaining life insurance as a senior citizen can be more challenging even without experiencing a acute health issue due to compounding health conditions. However, there are some insurers who do offer excellent rates to heart attack victims in their 70s.
If you’re in your 40s, 50s, or 60s, age is in your favor. Many life insurance companies will steer clear of those who have suffered a heart attack in their 30s, because the sad reality is that cardiovascular issues at such an early age are usually a sign of future ailments. Sad, but true. In these cases, a whole life, burial insurance policy may be required.
- Severity Of Your Heart Attack
Insurers don’t discriminate based on the type of surgery you had. However they do want to know how serious your heart attack was. Blockage of one or two vessels makes you a lower risk than those who have suffered a major heart attack that damaged four vessels.
- Your Build
Since heart disease is largely considered to be a “lifestyle disease,” insurers prefer applicants who have a relatively healthy physique. Being considerably overweight raises your risk to the insurer.
Age 40 + more than 2 vessels affected + 100 pounds overweight = Extremely difficult to get approved for life insurance.
Age 60 + 1 vessel affected + 25 pounds overweight = Very possible to get approved for life insurance.
As you can see, even with 20 more years of age under the belt, the insurance company is more likely to insure the 60 year old than the 40 year old. Unfortunately, the heart attack affected 2 vessels in the first candidate and being very overweight at age 40 is a major obstacle.
- Any Compounding Health Issues
Adding in a complicating medical condition such as Diabetes makes it much more challenging to insure than with just a record of a heart attack. It will inevitably raise the rate considerably and could end up requiring high risk life insurance or even guaranteed issue coverage. Guaranteed issue coverage should be used when all other life insurance options have been ruled out by an independent life insurance agent/broker.
- Be Sure You Are Following Your Doctors Orders
Mentioned previously, but the insurance company may request your medical records from your doctor to see that you are following up with the prescribed treatment and management plan. It looks good to them if the plan does not need a lot of oversight and if you are actively following it. The insurance company may also be review your stress tests and any echo cardiogram to verify you are free of blockages.
Some insurance companies will give you a credit for yearly stress testing. This can reduce your “health” or rate class resulting in 25 to 50% lower insurance premiums in the future.
Medication and Usage
It is typical that those recovering from a heart attack are prescribed blood thinners. Ideally, being off blood thinners within 6 months (with the guidance of the doctor) is going to show better than someone who must take blood thinners for life.
You can expect a 20% rate up if you must be permanently medicated. Never try to change your doctors regimen for the purposes of application. Insurers do look at prescription history as part of their assessment for life insurance at application. The insurance company will likely decline you.
Other Tips To Better Your Chances of Approval
You didn’t plan on having a heart attack for sure, but there are things we can do to improve the odds of it not reoccurring.
- Change your Lifestyle. Be prepared make better dietary choices and keep exercise in the to do list, regularly.
- Lock in life insurance for as long as possible.
- Continue to visit your doctor to update him/her. Follow their guidance.
- Minimize the need for medications by making the hard choices. Become that man or woman. Take control of your health.
Preparing for Application
You should be ready to answer all of the following
- When were you medically diagnosed?
- Do you visit your doctor on a regular basis? When was your last visit?
- What treatment(s) were recommended to you?
- What treatment(s) have you had? Be specific as to all.
- Are you aware of any underlying conditions that may have caused your heart attack?
- Has your heart condition improved since you were first diagnosed?
Now you don’t have to memorize your medical records, but insurers have more confidence in applicants that seem on top of their health condition. Just remember, no sugarcoating.
What if I Have Another Medical Condition or Had More Than 1 Heart Attack?
If you want the best life insurance after a heart attack, be sure to disclose that additional information to your independent agent. It’s still possible to get coverage and will save you a lot of time and frustration.
There may be limitations on how large of a policy you can get or even require you to take out a graded death benefit policy or other high risk life insurance policy. Then again, depending on your current situation, there may be some companies who view you as a very acceptable risk and make much better offers than others. The specifics to each case do make a considerable difference.
What Kind of Premiums Should You Expect?
It would be nice if I could just put a number in here to answer that question. Remember, the instant quoter is not going to reflect your actual premium under your circumstances.
Truth is your age, your interview, medical exam and doctors records are going to have a big effect on where you land with your offer.
Further, it depends on what type of life insurance coverage you are purchasing. 20 year term insurance is less expensive than permanent life insurance such as guaranteed universal life which is must less expensive than whole life insurance.
For illustrative purposes only we will use 20 year term life insurance as the product. This is not a recommendation at this point and fictitious.
John is a 45 year old male, slightly overweight. He does not smoke or use any tobacco. John had a heart attack a couple years ago and now wants more term life insurance to get his youngest child, age 3 to her adulthood. This includes college planning. John has recently taken up a good exercise routine. He is able to apply for coverage and be approved at regular rates because he had taken corrective action to improve his situation. The insurance company he selected after consultation with his independent agent/broker was more liberal to heart disease than many others. John was not on blood thinners at application. His coverage was $42/mo but could have easily been $108 or table rated (up charged) with other insurers pushing the premium up much more.
What If I Have Been Previously Declined?
This happens very frequently to those applying for life insurance after a heart attack. Often times, it is a company that is just not liberal enough with heart conditions. Depending how long ago the occurance was, you may find a lot of carriers will not want make you a offer. Sometime those life insurance companies are just “cherry pickers.” Many applicants will rush out to a State Farm office or the like. Wrong place to go for life insurance folks!!
You need a high risk life insurance specialist that works with top life insurance carriers that want your business. That is step number one.
Aside of having the knowledge and experience with life insurance carriers, there is an art to presenting your case to an insurance company as well. You need a seasoned office that has the time to dig in and work thru the red tape.
If your case is complicated due to a decline, we may send out anonymous case requests to several of our top heart condition life insurers. This anonymous offer is based on your situation. The underwriters will come back with an answer so you can move forward in confidence you have the best carrier and of course price for the policy you want.
This is a specialty that you don’t discuss with a auto and homeowners agent on the corner or the big box sales office that doesn’t have the time to commit, due to high sales quotas.
Don’t make the mistake of trying to call a big insurance company thinking they will help you obtain the best life insurance after a heart attack. The size or the name of the carrier has nothing to do with how their underwriters determine who they will accept and how much it will cost.
Some of the biggest names want nothing to do with this type of risk and “decline” is the norm. The person on the phone is just a sales agent for that company. You will not be told that you should apply elsewhere because that insurer cannot insure you affordably or even make an offer/approve you.
“Declines” are not easy to overcome. They are posted to the Medical Information Bureau (MIB). Some insurers will not offer coverage to applicants who were “declined” in the last 12 months.
All insurance companies will check these electronic reports and will see any “decline” in your record.
I know I have said it before…
It does not cost you a penny for good service.
Let Maple Valley Insurance Group shop the coverage out and get you the best value and offer. As your specialist, we can speak on your behalf to get you approved with the best possible outcome and price with the right insurance company.
Here is an important tip to remember… Avoid insurance company home offices, big box sales offices, captive insurance agents (work for 1 insurer such as Globe Life, State Farm, Farmers, Allstate). These are not good places to buy heart attack life insurance, period.
There are a number of reasons why this is true, but beyond the scope of this article.
Does Life Insurance Cover Heart Attacks?
If the insured individual had an active life insurance policy and passes away, benefits would be paid out to the named beneficiary selected by the policyholder. The death benefit would be paid according to the terms written into the terms of the policy. Be advised, life insurance policies are not all the same.
For example, a life insurance policy may contain a 2 or 3 year limited benefit period. Limited benefit periods are built into graded or guaranteed issue whole life insurance. Depending upon your heart health history, one of these may be your only option. Check with a seasoned life insurance professional and ask questions. Get prequalified first before making your decision.
If your health is rocky, you do need a high risk life insurance specialist that works with dozens of carriers. Let him or her sort out the companies and policies that can accept your health history. This is not going to be the auto and homeowners agent on the corner.
If your heart issue is complicated we will send out anonymous case requests to several of our top heart condition life insurers. This anonymous offer is based on your specific health situation and medications etc. From there, each company underwriter will come back with an answer so you can move forward in confidence you have the best price for the product you want.
Don’t make the mistake of trying to calling a big name insurance company thinking they will help you obtain the best life insurance after a heart attack. The size or the name of the carrier has nothing to do with how their underwriters determine who they will accept and how much it will cost.
Your condition is going to require access to the right insurance companies and policy to apply for which ultimately meet your needs.
Can I Get Life Insurance With A Heart Ailment?
Yes, you can still get life insurance. The key is having a seasoned specialist that has the knowledge as to whom the go to companies are and can work with their underwriters on your behalf to get you the best possible offer.
No, not every insurance company will be willing to cover you, just know there are options for you out there.
Where To Get Life Insurance After A Heart Attack?
Get help from an expert if you want the best life insurance after a heart attack. Your case is already complicated by this preexisting condition. The fact is, every case like this is different due to severity, your age, medications and other medical conditions you may have.
It does not cost you a nickel to get the expertise of an independent life insurance agent or broker.
The best savings you can get is by picking the right independent insurance agent/broker to work with.
Focus on changing your lifestyle around to include a very good diet and a solid exercise routine. It’s not only good for you but necessary for getting the best life insurance rates.
How you are going to be rated will depend upon where you were at the point of your heart attack, to where you are now. The insurance company underwriters essentially want to know how much additional risk you pose the insurance company versus a standard applicant who does not have any health risks.
For most people 50-85 looking for a policy up to $50,000, the best life insurance after a heart attack will be a Simplified Issue Whole Life or Graded whole life insurance. Simplified issue would be the better of the two, if your overall health can qualify you. If you are just weeks out of the hospital, more than likely, you will need a graded policy.
Trying to get the best life insurance with a heart problem doesn’t have to be hours of research and/or out of this world expensive. You just have to find the right advocate with access to companies who see you and your recovery in the best light.
Hopefully this article has give you some confidence to reach out to an expert. Someone who does this daily. We’re always here to help. 269-244-3420