Congratulations for being lucky enough to survive a deadly disease which takes a toll on over 50,000 Americans per year, you certainly are one of the few, who have made it difficult for the disease to weaken your will from living your life. However, if you are looking for a life insurance to cover yourself for the same reasons like others it is important for you to know the intricacies involved in the purchase of the life insurance cover for people who have survived cancer.
Insurers usually reject the insurance cover for the cancer survivors for a period of two years from the time the disease was last active or after the end of cancer treatment. Moreover, most of the life insurance coverage providers rate the cancer survivors almost 25% to 100% higher than the normal insurance rates, i.e., your insurance premiums are going to be much higher even after you have successfully battled the disease. A history of cancer usually elevates the premium payable by 2 to 10 points depending upon the type of cancer successfully cured.
Another bad news is, even if you go to your oncologist for regular diagnostics and checkups for monitoring the condition of health, an annual visit of more than one is considered as active cancer treatment by most of the insurers.
How do the life insurance rates for cancer patients or survivors work?
The insurance underwriters usually do not take into account the new medicines developed to fight out cancer. They usually go into the medical history of the individual seeking an insurance cover. The insurance policy of less lethal forms of cancer such as breast cancer might win a rate of standard for the survivors, whereas the people who have more serious form of disease might expect a rate almost 6 to 10 times of the standard insurance rates, thus making it all the more expensive for the cancer survivors to get a life insurance cover.
The people who suffered with lower degree of cancer will find it easier to get better insurance rates than the ones who are suffering or have suffered with greater degree of cancer. A pathology report is usually required by all the insurers to insure a person with cancer or a survivor of cancer, in order to fix the rates for depending upon his health condition. Certain types of cancers are considered to be cured after a particular time period has elapsed while others might still be present in malignant form. Thus the insurers seek a detailed medical report along with the pathology reports to determine your condition before giving you the benefits of the life insurance cover.
Besides this the insurers will seek to determine your lifestyle and other factors, such as, your smoking habits or exposures to various forms of radiations you expose yourself to, in order to determine the risk of re-contracting the cancer or other inherent risks. The insurance premium rates might droop down to almost 50% after three years of treatment, if you have a healthy lifestyle and do not show any sign of doctor visits in connection to cancer besides your pathology reports being normal.
What are various insurance options to choose from?
Broadly there are two types of life insurance plans available to you. One is the term insurance plan while the other is cash value insurance.
When you seek to cover your dependents for a particular length of time with some monthly sum it is termed as term insurance. When your dependents are paid some cash equivalent to the face value of the insurance plan, it is termed as cash value insurance.
Usually the people who have cancer of have successfully battled the disease, the cash value insurance is provided due to the high risk factor, however, the rates of cash value insurance is much higher than the term insurance but it makes sure your policy does not lapse in case you die before a particular time frame in case of term insurance.
Tips for cancer survivors:
- Life insurance companies usually seek reinsurers i.e., the firm who financially back their policy, thus it is important to buy the policy from one insurer at a time. If you apply to various insurance firms in same time period, multiple applications of your copies will reach reinsurers thereby raising a red-flag on your condition. It is wiser to get quotes first and than apply for insurance with the insurer whose quotes best suits your personal needs.
- Do not hide your medical condition, the number of visits to the doctor, the stage of your disease, the time period elapsed since treatment, post-recovery symptoms, and other medical reports asked by your insurer. Misrepresentation of any information will be equivalent to fraud thereby cancelling your insurance contract or worse even, non payment of claims from the insurer. Thus it is important to be true while stating all the information.
- Seeking an advice of agent who specializes in non-standard policies, so that he can equip you with details regarding various insurance option available for your condition and suggest you the firm whose underwriting policy matches your personal needs. If you are denied the best rates from one insurer it does not mean that you are not eligible for the best insurance rates.
Though traditional insurance carriers do not want the cancer survivors to be covered in their life insurance plans there are few firms who assume the responsibility of providing the life insurance cover to cancer patients and survivors. Thus it is important for you to shop around and find the insurer who can give you much needed insurance cover at competitive rates and prices. Do not expect the rates to be normal; however, you can expect to enjoy the similar privileges at some additional amount, which certainly will save you from the hassles of worrying about your near and dear ones. Informed and wise decisions save much time in settlement of claims.
