Can you get life insurance after a heart attack? In this video I discuss what it takes to get approved following a heart attack (Myocardial infarction) and what insurance companies look for when evaluating your application.
Transcript:
If you've had a heart attack and you're looking for a life insurance policy, I'm going to talk to you about specific guidelines for: Can you get approved for life insurance after a heart attack, and what are the guidelines on pricing? Coming up in this video.
So if you've had a heart attack, can you get approved for a life insurance policy? Well, let's talk about a couple situations here. Recently I had a 38-year-old who had a heart attack 6 months prior to approaching me. They had 99% blockage. They were a smoker. They had a stent put in as a result after the heart attack, and now they're looking for life insurance. The question is: Can they get approved for coverage?
So here are some of the guidelines. One, the younger you are when you have a heart attack, the worse it is, because somebody who's 55, 60, 65, 70, it might be more common for them to have a heart attack as opposed to somebody who's 30 or 35. When you're 30 or 35 and you suffer with a heart attack, the insurance companies are going to be a little bit more cautious.
So can you get approved for coverage? Well, the answer is yes. Typically, six months after, you should be eligible to apply and can possibly get approved. Really it's going to depend on factors, if, for example, you've been going to your doctor and having follow-ups done, if you've had normal stress tests, EKGs, echocardiograms, if you've been following your doctor's advice. Have you made any lifestyle changes? For example, this 38-year-old was a smoker. They quit smoking since their heart attack. That's a positive sign that they are making lifestyle changes that will improve their health going forward.
So in the case of the 38-year-old, we're applying for coverage, and we're looking to get a table of 6 to 8 table rating. What does that mean? It's a rating that's below standard pricing for life insurance. Below standard rates means it's going to be a higher rate. Table ratings start from one and go up. So a six, seven, eight, that's going to be a higher price for coverage.
Now given that they're young, the life insurance will still be affordable because they're so young, but a table rating of six, seven, eight, that's a higher pricing for life insurance. For that same person if they were 55 or 60, maybe they would see a table 2 rating or a table 4 rating 6 months after the heart attack. Twelve months, a year, two years after the heart attack, they may actually be able to get standard pricing if they've been following the doctor's orders, if they've been seeing the doctor regularly, and have had normal results on their lab tests and echocardiograms, etc., and they've made some positive lifestyle changes.
So the bottom line is you can get approved for life insurance after a heart attack, but you need to consider the factors or talk to us about what was the cause of the heart attack, what has the treatment been, have you been to the doctor, have the results been normal on the follow-up testing, have you made any lifestyle changes. These are going to be the factors that will allow you to get approved for a policy, and the longer you are removed from the heart attack, the better it's going to be in terms of the pricing that you're likely to get.
If you're on our website, you can fill out the form below if you're in that situation and you want to speak to us. And if you're watching this on YouTube, just click the link below. You can go to our website. You can call us or contact us through the site, and we can help you get approved for life insurance following a heart attack or other type of high risk factors you might have.
Thank you, and I look forward to speaking with you.