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If you are a victim of vascular disease, including heart attacks, you can purchase life insurance, and often for reasonable rates. And, as time goes by and you continue your check-ups and continue to be in good health, your rates could continue to go down.
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Typically, when dealing with agents that work in high-risk cases, they are able to provide their experience and knowledge on which companies are likely to approve an application. They can also help put your health and lifestyle into a prioritized category allowing you and the company to see the changes that are positively affecting the incident.
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The more information you give the better, as this allows the insurance company to treat you as an individual case, instead of lumping you in with all victims of vascular disease or heart attack survivors and coming up with an average.
The American Heart Association found that between 2015 and 2018 over 125 million U.S. adults had some form of cardiovascular problems and diseases. While this is a scary number, the good news is that a high percentage of these people survive and go on to continue living their normal lives. Many people may think that if they’ve had a heart attack, they will not be able to find affordable protection for their families, which is not always the case.
After a Heart Attack Am I Eligible for Life Insurance?
If you are a victim of vascular disease, including heart attacks, you can purchase life insurance, and often for reasonable rates. And, as time goes by and you continue your check-ups and continue to be in good health, your rates could continue to go down. In fact, it might be a good idea to wait a couple of years after suffering a heart attack to apply for life insurance, as most insurance companies will lower your rates if you continue to show improved health and no more incidents over a couple of years. The more recent the incident, the more likely you are to see higher rates. When determining which type of coverage you may receive, there are several eligibility factors:
- Your age at the time of the heart attack, and current age when trying to get coverage.
- The severity of the heart attack, the less severe the less difficult it may be to get insurance coverage.
- Corresponding health issues such as diabetes can create a level of difficulty. The more health issues you have the more difficult it may be to get insurance.
- How much time has passed from when the incident took place till when you are trying to qualify.
It is possible to become eligible after a heart attack, however it is even more important to closely following your doctor’s post-surgery or attack guidelines.
How Can I Make Sure I Get Approved and What Happens if Otherwise?
When dealing with something as serious as a heart-attack it is important that you or your loved one does not try to navigate this alone. There is also a fair chance of not getting approved, make sure you are working closely with agents that specialize and are successful in high-risk insurance cases.
Typically, when dealing with agents that work in high-risk cases, they are able to provide their experience and knowledge on which companies are likely to approve an application. They can also help put your health and lifestyle into a prioritized category allowing you and the company to see the changes that are positively affecting the incident. Doing your research matters before making a life changing decision.
Sometimes taking all the right steps can still result in denial of coverage. If denied, an agent may offer you a “guaranteed issue policy” which does not take any health issues into consideration and does not ask any health questions.
Because of this, the policy does have higher rates.
How Can I Try to Get Lower Rates?
There can be major variations in rates between insurance companies for heart attack survivors. Some carriers require longer windows of recovery time before insuring you, or before lowering your rates, while others’ windows are shorter. There is also a variation among the initial rates themselves. This is why it is so important to compare quotes from multiple companies.
It is very important to be as complete as possible with the information you provide to your potential insurer. If you provide your doctor’s contact information, so the insurance company can follow up to get validation on treatment information, dates, success stories, etc., evidence of lowered cholesterol and/or blood pressure levels, and good cardiogram readings, an insurance company will likely feel more comfortable insuring you and charging you lower rates. The more information the better, as this allows the insurance company to treat you as an individual case, instead of lumping you in with all victims of vascular disease or heart attack survivors and coming up with an average.
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