Can You Get Term Life Insurance If You Have Cancer?
If you already have cancer you may find it difficult to qualify for a life insurance policy.
There are guaranteed acceptance life insurance plans but they offer a small amount of life insurance at a very high rate usually, and the coverage is graded, meaning you won't have full coverage until you have been insured for at least 2-3 years.
In addition, guaranteed acceptance life insurance plans usually have age restrictions on who may qualify for a policy.
In addition, if you have life insurance that is in remission, or are a cancer survivor, you may be able to qualify for regular life insurance coverage. Your approval and pricing may depend on your health status, how long you have been in remission, the type of cancer, your cancer treatments, and when you were diagnosed, among other factors. Your age, tobacco use, and other risk factors may affect your approval and rate for life insurance, as well.
Learn more about life insurance for cancer survivors.
Does Life Insurance Cover Breast Cancer?
Life insurance pays out a death benefit when an insured person dies from a covered cause of death.
There isn’t any exclusion in most standard life insurance policies against death resulting from breast cancer. Death from cancer is the sort of thing that life insurance is designed to cover.
However, life insurance does not pay for any medical treatments for cancer.
The cash value which may accumulate over time inside a permanent life insurance policy can be borrowed to help pay for medical expenses.
In addition, some life insurance policies have accelerated death benefits which means if the insured person is diagnosed with a terminal illness which is expected to take the person's life within 12 months, a portion of the death benefit may be paid out while the insured is alive, to help pay for medical expenses. The amount you receive from your life insurance death benefit while still alive will reduce the amount paid out to your beneficiary upon your death.
If you have purchased the life insurance prior to being diagnosed with breast cancer, yes you are covered. If you have had breast cancer and looking to purchase life insurance there are some things you need to know.
The type of life insurance, amount of coverage, and terms, depends on the cancer itself and how long you have been cancer free after your last treatment.
To get into the standard ratings for life insurance after breast cancer practically all life insurance carriers will want to see you cancer free for 10 years. Anything less than 10 years will be a higher risk life insurance policy of either rated (higher) premiums or graded benefits.
Learn more about life insurance for cancer survivors and how to compare life insurance plans and pricing online.
Can I Get Life Insurance After Breast Cancer?
Yes, you may be able to qualify to purchase a life insurance policy after breast cancer, but you're going to want to shop the case among several highly-rated life insurance carriers.
With a medical history of breast cancer, the risk class life insurance companies will offer you is going to vary quite a bit between them.
You're generally going to be looking at a substandard table-rating for your life insurance coverage, which means you will pay more than the standard rate for the average person buying life insurance.
The type of cancer, stage of cancer, course of treatment, is treatment completed, how long since the last date of treatment, when your cancer went into remission, and any other medical conditions are some of the factors that will go into the underwriting evaluation of insuring you as a risk for a life insurance company.
In general, most insurance companies will want to wait at least 2 to 5 years from the date treatment is completed for most types of cancer before they will consider offering any life insurance coverage, but this will vary by life insurance carrier and type of cancer.
Guaranteed-issue life insurance plans are available as they do not require a health exam. However, these are "graded" life insurance policies and generally feature a 2-3 year waiting period before providing full coverage (payment of proceeds when death of the insured occurs by illness or injury). If the insured dies under accidental means during the graded period, the life insurance policy will still pay the full death benefit.