When you’re looking to get life insurance coverage, the insurance company is going to look at dozens of different factors when deciding if they should accept your application and how much they are going to charge you for the life insurance protection. One of the biggest factors that the insurance company is going to look at is if you have any pre-existing conditions, like diabetes. If you’re an applicant with type 1 diabetes, then you may assume that you can’t get life insurance, you may have even been declined in the past. Regardless of your health or diabetes diagnosis, there are several life insurance options that you can choose from.
Over 25 million children and adults in the U.S have diabetes, and about 2 million new cases of diabetes are diagnosed each year. If you are looking to get approved for life insurance with type 1 diabetes, this blog post will cover what you need to know. I’ll cover what factors life insurance companies consider in deciding whether or not to approve and how they price life insurance with type 1 diabetes. I’ll also cover some companies that we have had success with as far as getting type 1 diabetics approved. You can request a quote using the form right below this paragraph or keep reading for more on life insurance with type 1 diabetes.
There are a few important factors you should be aware of when trying to get life insurance with type 1 diabetes.
It is easier to get approved for coverage if you were diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes after age 40. If you were diagnosed prior to age 40 you may need to explore other options for coverage, such as a Graded Death Benefit Life Insurance - which I’ll discuss later in this blog post.
Your A1c percentage may vary based on your age and other conditions, however ideally if your type 1 diabetes is well controlled, you should have an A1c of less than 7%, which means an average glucose of 154 mg/dL.
The use of insulin units can affect your ability to get approved, as well as rates. The guidelines I’m about to write about aren’t written in stone, because insulin units vary based on a person’s build (height/weight). However, here are some general guidelines.
25 Units a day or less of insulin is ideal and would help you get the best pricing possible. You can most likely get approved even if taking up to 50 units of insulin per day, however pricing will increase with an increased amount of insulin needed.
If you were diagnosed after age 40, your type 1 diabetes is well controlled, and you are following your doctor’s recommendations, as well as not having other complications from diabetes, like loss of vision, kidney disease, nervous system disease or amputations you should be able to get approved for coverage with a few high quality life insurance companies at a table rating of between 4-8.
I've had success with both MetLife and American General for type 1 diabetics. Of course, you’re going to pay more for your life insurance protection compared to a non-diabetic, but that doesn’t mean that your plan is going to break your bank every month. There are several ways that you can get affordable life insurance protection and give your family the coverage that they need.
Let’s look at some examples of pricing: Let’s take a 55 year old female applying for $250,000 of 15 year term at a Table 4 Rating:
American General: $128.16 Monthly
MetLife: $152.91 Monthly
If you are taking more than 50 Units of Insulin per day, or your A1c levels are high than there is a company that would approve you for up to $50,000 of coverage without a medical exam. If you were looking for coverage around $100,000 - $150,000 you could get approved for a Graded Death Benefit Policy.
Graded Death Benefit policies have a 2 or 3 year initial period in which the death benefit is equal to all premiums paid, plus interest. After the initial period, 100% of the death benefit would be in place. Also note that even during the initial 2 or 3 year period, if death occurs as a result of an accident, then the full death benefit would be paid.
These graded death benefit policies are an excellent option for insurance coverage. Some applicants are scared of the possibility of something happening in the first two years, but don’t let that scare you from getting the insurance that you need. These plans will allow you to protect your family without breaking your bank every month.
One of the other options for life insurance coverage is to buy a guaranteed acceptance life insurance policy. As the name suggests, you can buy one of these policies, regardless of your health or any pre-existing conditions that you have, like type 1 diabetes. With these policies, all you have to do is provide your age and if you use any tobacco. At that point, the insurance company will take your payment information and you’ll have insurance coverage. These policies are a great way to protect your family if you have no other options.
One of the obvious disadvantages to these guaranteed acceptance plans is that they are going to be much more expensive than a traditional insurance plan. The purpose of the medical exam with a traditional insurance plan is to give the insurance company an idea of how much risk you are to insure. Without that medical exam and health information, the insurance company is taking a much higher risk to give you insurance protection. They are going to offset that risk by charging you higher premiums. If you’re wanting to save money, you’ll need to find a traditional insurance plan that will accept you for insurance coverage.
Another problem with these guaranteed acceptance life insurance plans is that you’re going to be limited on how much life insurance coverage that you can buy. Most guaranteed acceptance plans will only allow you to buy around $25,000 worth of insurance protection. For most families, this isn’t going to be enough protection. Not having enough life insurance coverage is going to be one of the worst mistakes that you can make. It would leave your family with leftover bills and expenses.
Before you apply for any type of insurance coverage, it’s important that you determine how much life insurance protection that your family will need if something tragic were to happen to you. Calculating your life insurance needs is easy, but it’s one of the most important things that you can do.
The first number that you should look at is your overall debts and other final expenses. The primary goal of \ your life insurance policy is to give your family the money that they need if you were to pass away. More than likely, you have thousands and thousands of dollars of debt in a mortgage loan, student loans, car payments, and much more. If something tragic were to happen, all of those bills would go directly to your family members. A life insurance policy gives your family the money that they need to pay off those bills.
The next number that you should look at is your annual salary. The secondary goal of your policy is to replace your paycheck if something were to happen. If you’re one of the main income earners in your home, then your family would struggle to pay for any basic needs. Your life insurance gives your family the money that they need to replace your salary without struggling financially.
These are only two of the important factors that you should look at when you’re adding up your life insurance needs. There are several other factors that you should consider, like burial expenses or fees that would arise. If you need any help determining how much life insurance your family will need, there are dozens of calculators available, or contact one of our agents and they will help you crunch all of the numbers.
We know that finding the life insurance protection can be a difficult and overwhelming search, but it doesn’t have to be. Our experienced agents are here to help ensure that you’re getting the best rates for your insurance coverage. Every insurance company is different, and all of them are going to view your type 1 diabetes diagnosis differently, which means that you can get drastically varying rates depending on which company that you get the quote from.
Our agents have years of experience working with all types of applicants with diabetes, and we also work with dozens and dozens of highly rated companies across the nation. Instead of wasting your time calling dozens of companies yourself, let one of our agents do all of the hard work for you. It’s our mission to ensure that you’re getting the best insurance coverage for you and your family. If you would like a quote for life insurance with type 1 diabetes, fill out the form below and we will contact you.
Perhaps you're looking for a particular company such as a AAA life insurance policy. If so, we can help with this and much more. Call us today!