Life Insurance for People with Cancer History
Have you been told that you could not get life insurance and thus were 
uninsurable because of a cancer history? Have you been denied insurance in the past? Has your policy been rated. Are you paying very high premiums for your present plan? In most cases, it is no longer the case!
Over the past several years, life insurance companies have begun to examine how much longer patients with breast, prostate cancer or other prevalent cancers are living. Largely on the basis of data collected by cancer researchers, a few companies have lowered the price of policies for cancer survivors who were once considered risky or even uninsurable.
What we may be looking at, when considering cancer survivors, is a population that would have an extraordinarily intense appreciation for the value of life insurance. To the degree that one can safely underwrite an insurance policy for cancer survivors, this is a good thing both for the insurance company and the people who need and want the life insurance at affordable rates.
For cancer survivors, life insurance policies have always been available but at a price well above what is considered affordable.
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Life insurance companies had lumped cancer survivors into a category of customers with persistent illnesses, such as congestive heart failure, that raises the likelihood of death. Policies for this “ impaired risk ” group are available from most companies, but the price ranges from two to six times standard rates. Now breast, prostate and other cancer survivors have a chance to get insurance at the standard rate. “ Standard is not the best price. But standard is a lot cheaper than what some cancer survivors can be paying for life insurance. For a woman who has survived breast cancer, this change can mean an extra $12,500. Under the newer policies, a woman can pay $1,500 per year for a $500,000 life insurance policy. Previously, she may have paid $4,000 per year for the 5 years and then been reassessed for potentially lower premiums.
Researchers have also collected lots of data on many cancer types, which offers insurers a wealth of information about the risk of covering cancer survivors with life insurance. This data, especially on early detection and preventing recurrences, provide the predictability life insurers need. Cancer research plays the key role in decision making and some companies have changed their rating guidelines to provide more attractive policies for cancer survivors.
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Do they check your blood for cancer when you buy life insurance?
Each company that performs full underwriting may check for cancer markers when you apply. If you are concerned with exam results (which many are) you may want to consider securing a policy without an exam. The process is simple and fast.
Apply Wisely: Advice for Cancer Survivors
Life insurance companies use reinsurers, another company that financially backs their policies. So it is important to apply to no more than two insurers at a time. If you take a shotgun approach, there is going to be 20 copies of your application that show up at the same reinsurance desk at the same time, that may raise big red flag saying you are too aggressive trying to get coverage. You know something that you’re not sharing and the underwriter may not approve your application. Request a Quote, be completely truthful in your application including the fact that you are applying to more than one company and why. If it is found that you withheld information or misrepresented anything that is material, the underwriter has the right to rescind the policy within 2 years of issue (it is in all policies so make sure to read it when approved).
In any case, we can help you get the best possible rates on life insurance and avoid the common pitfalls. FInding a company that is willing to take an application is not good enough. You also need an agent that is willing to communicate with underwriters and ask the right questions. That alone could save a person with cancer history a lot of money on life insurance premiums.
Find an agent who specializes in nonstandard policies and who will know the ins and outs of each insurer’s guidelines for cancer patients. Every life insurance company has its own underwriting standards. There is nothing universal about it. The fact that one company refuses to write coverage in a particular case doesn't mean that there isn't a company that would be willing to insure you.
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More News
For example, Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Vol. 98, No. 11, June 7, 2006 NEWS 731
with noninvasive breast cancer, stage 1 tumors or even advanced cancers who are several years into their survival. “ The data that [cancer researchers] provide, the survival data that is published in the literature is the source of the information that we use to determine when we can insure cancer survivors and if we can insure them at standard rates, ” she said. Early detection has been an important driver enabling life insurers to rewrite their coverage guidelines, she said. “ If you look at mammograms having been developed and brought into fairly wide use in the 1980s, you begin seeing changes in the mortality curves in breast cancer in the 1990s. That sort of tracks very nicely. The earlier that you diagnosis it and then treat it — and you definitively treat it — that is going to have an effect down the road on mortality. ”
The same policy likely comes into play for other types of cancers, as life insurers decide whether to offer more affordable coverage in the future. Most interesting are the improvements in treatment and diagnosis that are coming about through the study of tumor genetics. Not germline mutations but somatic mutations that come along with people who end up having a cancer caused because of something like that. There have been great strides in that area. There has been a great trend with other cancers as cancer research progresses. As medicine advances and we get more confidence in the long-term prognosis for cancer cases, more of them are likely to be moved from the impaired-risk category into standard rates. And some of them might be moved into preferred, but that may be asking for a lot right at the moment.
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You can also fill out our cancer questionnaire which will help us find you the right life insurance company at the lowest possible rates Cancer Questionnaire
