Life Insurance For People With High Cholesterol In 2024

If you have high cholesterol, you may be wondering if you can qualify for life insurance.

The insurance world can be a bit bewildering with all of its unfamiliar words and terms, but don’t worry. We’ve researched extensively on the topic of life insurance for those with high cholesterol, and put together information that should be helpful to you.

Medical advancements as well as a greater understanding of high cholesterol has altered the landscape of life insurance. Nowadays, instead of being denied insurance coverage, people with high cholesterol are able to find insurers who will issue the coverage they need.

We’ll look at both of those types of life insurance along with other options, give you some pointers on how to qualify for life insurance with high cholesterol, a few tips about coverage details, and more. Our aim is to offer help to anyone who wants guidance in selecting the right life insurance coverage for their needs.

Today, with modern biologics such as statins to keep high cholesterol within normal limits, many top insurers offer term life as well as whole life insurance coverage for individuals with high cholesterol.

While it’s encouraging that life insurance is available now for most individuals who have  high cholesterol, the fact is that not all insurers provide this coverage, and some that do may not approve your application for coverage. Numerous insurance providers have recognized the need for life insurance to cover individuals with high cholesterol.

Life insurance for those with high cholesterol may come with a higher price tag than standard issue, depending on multiple factors like: general health, lifestyle and your family medical history. Another element that will be looked at carefully is how compliant you are with keeping doctor’s appointments and following your doctor’s orders.

How Does High Cholesterol Affect Life Insurance Eligibility?

A diagnosis of high cholesterol doesn’t mean that you won’t be able to purchase life insurance. There are medications available to treat and correct high cholesterol with a favorable prognosis. Much of your future health is up to you and how well you follow your doctor’s advice about keeping your condition under control.

You should know that if you had life insurance in effect before having high cholesterol, your premiums may be raised when you renew your policy.

Traditional life insurance might not be available to everyone with high cholesterol, but insurers are out there that offer insurance products designed for specialized health conditions. These  providers might provide traditional life insurance to applicants with high cholesterol, provided it is well-managed.

You might also get approval for group or guaranteed issue life insurance. For example, if you have group health insurance through your employer or organization, you can probably get life insurance, as well.

for knowledge about how applying for life insurance works. It could be challenging to find your way through all of the terminology of insurance, but the security, financial protection and peace of mind these policies provide is priceless.

Those with high cholesterol who had a life insurance policy in force before they were diagnosed cannot have their policy canceled due to the diagnosis. This highlights how important it is to get life insurance coverage as soon as possible.

Life Insurance Underwriting Process For High Cholesterol

A basic knowledge of insurance underwriting might be helpful if you’re shopping around for life insurance and have high cholesterol. Here are 5 steps in the underwriting process:

1. Medical Examination: A medical examination is the first step in underwriting. It will help the underwriter determine whether or not your application for coverage will be approved. You’ll begin with a physical exam, and then the underwriter will assess your condition, especially your high cholesterol, with the emphasis on your overall health.
2. Review of Medical History: You’ll be asked to provide your medical records to the insurance underwriter. The underwriter will ask what kind of  treatment you’re receiving, along with how your cholesterol levels are since beginning treatment.
3. Lifestyle Evaluation: Your lifestyle choices will be important to the underwriter, too. This means that habits like smoking, drug use and alcohol consumption will need to be disclosed. Please note that a healthy lifestyle could have a favorable influence on the approval of your application.
4. Risk Assessment: The underwriter will put all of this information together, as well as the results of your physical examination, and then make a risk assessment of providing life insurance to you. If you are approved for coverage, a positive assessment by the underwriter might affect the price of your premiums.
5. Policy Issuance: Once you get through the underwriting process without being declined for coverage, the insurer will probably offer you life insurance. Based on the underwriter’s assessment, your insurance policy might have higher rates or exclusions.

What Do Life Insurance Companies Consider When Someone With High Cholesterol Applies For Coverage?

Those with high cholesterol might not qualify for the best coverage or lowest premiums, yet still might qualify for standard rates with some insurers. Standard rates are usually for people with a well-controlled or moderate health condition, or those who have no significant family history of serious medical conditions such as cancer or heart disease.

You might pay higher premiums than someone without high cholesterol, but you should still be able to secure competitive rates with numerous insurance carriers, depending on the type of high cholesterol along with other factors.

When individuals with high cholesterol apply for life insurance, there are quite a few key elements that underwriters will consider. Life insurance for high-risk applicants is considerably more complicated than for someone enjoying  average good health.

In all probability, the first thing an insurance underwriter will ask about is how well your high cholesterol is being managed. They’ll look at your medical records to review your symptoms and treatments. If your medical history shows that your condition is stable, it may boost your chances of being approved for coverage.

Your daily lifestyle plays a big part in underwriting, also. Insurance providers will do an assessment of your health and lifestyle habits, such as alcohol consumption, drug use and smoking. A healthy lifestyle has a favorable effect on your application. Your gender, age, and family medical history will all be considered, too.

The most important factor, if you have high cholesterol, is that when it comes time to purchase life insurance, it must be well controlled. Your prognosis for the future, current health conditions, and diagnostic tests all play a role in whether or not a company will approve life insurance for you.

Best Type Of Life Insurance If You Have High Cholesterol

Which types of life insurance are open to someone with high cholesterol? Here are 5 types that are likely to be offered:

Whole Life Insurance

Coverage for your whole lifetime is what you get with whole life insurance. This type has the added benefit of building a cash value that will increase as time goes on. Whole life insurance might be a viable choice for anyone living with high cholesterol because it has a guaranteed death benefit. Another perk is that coverage never expires. Whole life insurance usually has higher premiums than term life insurance.

Term Life Insurance

Term life insurance provides insurance coverage for a specific period of time, usually between 10-35 years. Its premiums are less than whole life insurance, which makes it a nice option for someone with high cholesterol who is looking for adequate life insurance at a low price.

Final Expense Life Insurance

Final expense life insurance, often called burial or funeral insurance, is specially designed to cover end-of-life expenses. Final expense policies normally have more lenient underwriting than most other types, which could be helpful to someone with high cholesterol and having trouble getting approval for traditional life insurance.

Guaranteed Issue Life Insurance

Guaranteed issue life insurance provides coverage to more or less anyone, regardless of their health conditions. It could be a desirable option for anyone with high cholesterol and declined by other insurers. This type is usually more costly than some types of life insurance, but if you’ve been declined coverage by other insurers, it might well be worth the higher rates.

A guaranteed issue life insurance policy may have a Graded Death Benefit. This means that if you have high cholesterol, your policy won’t cover any health problems related to that condition for a specific length of time, normally 2 years. You may also have coverage for accidental death with this type of insurance.

Group Life Insurance

Group life insurance is usually offered through employers or other groups or organizations. For people with high cholesterol that have this option available, you should probably take it. It’s a way to get life insurance coverage without the intensive underwriting sometimes involved with traditional issue policies. You might not even have to undergo a physical exam.

How Much Does Life Insurance Cost For Those With High Cholesterol?

If you have high cholesterol the rates you pay may vary widely, based on the type and location of high cholesterol, as well as its severity.

Sample Life Insurance Rates For a 32 Year Old Male Non-Smoker With High Cholesterol

Most underwriters will assign someone with high cholesterol a particular health class, or table such as Preferred Plus, Preferred, Standard, Table 2, and so on.

The cost of your premiums will depend to a big extent on the information the underwriter collects about your medical history, family health history, lifestyle and so on. It may expedite matters if you go with all of the information the underwriter will want to review.

Here is a list of things you need to have ready when you see the underwriter:

• The present condition of your high cholesterol
• Description of treatment received
• Date the high cholesterol was first diagnosed
• All medical test results
• Smoking history
• Stability of the high cholesterol
• An APS (Attending Physician Statement)

If you have high cholesterol, a favorable application may be of help when you’re trying to secure life insurance. Show the provider that you are doing well with your high cholesterol within normal limits, are compliant with keeping your doctors appointments and following suggestions for staying healthy, observing a healthy lifestyle and enjoying a normal life even with your condition.

Can Insurance Companies Deny Coverage To Someone With High Cholesterol?

Yes, an insurance company could deny your application for life insurance, but it’s doubtful this would occur due to high cholesterol alone. One thing that could make an insurance carrier decide the risk was too high in insuring your life is if your high cholesterol is caused by another health condition.

Medicine has made great strides in advancing the treatment of high cholesterol. Besides adding to life expectancy, it means a shift in the way some insurance providers look at insurability of people with high cholesterol.

Perhaps the major factor in whether or not an insurance provider will approve a life insurance application, as well as how high the premiums will be, is how the person with high cholesterol is doing on a day-to-day basis. The longer it has been without any problems, the more likely it is that you’ll be approved for coverage.

What Will Insurers Ask About High Cholesterol?

You can count on there being a number of questions that are likely to be asked by the insurer when a person with a high cholesterol applies for life insurance coverage. The following lists the major factors underwriters consider when processing a life insurance application from a person who currently has or has had an high cholesterol:

• Efforts are made to control the blood pressure
• Date when the high cholesterol was diagnosed
• The type of high cholesterol
• Highest lab results of high cholesterol
• Cause of high cholesterol
• Stability of high cholesterol
• The applicant’s smoking history
• Efforts are made to control the high cholesterol
• If the high cholesterol is still present
• Any treatment received

Life Insurance Options If You Are Denied Coverage

Insurance companies might decline approval of coverage for high cholesterol, but it isn’t likely. A denial of coverage would probably occur if there was an underlying, serious health condition causing the high  cholesterol. But, even in that worst case scenario, you’ll still have options for purchasing life insurance.

Guaranteed Issue policies are a good option if you have high cholesterol and have been declined for traditional life insurance.

Group life insurance, by way of an employer or other organization, offers coverage regardless of whatever health conditions you might have. If you’re not making progress getting life insurance, check out specialized services on the internet like Insuranceopedia that can help you find the coverage you need.

Here are three tips that might aid in your search for life insurance:

Know Your Needs: You need more than just a vague idea of how much life insurance you should purchase. A lot of people use the DIME method to calculate how much life insurance it will take to cover all expenses if you’re not around.

The DIME method is a popular and much-used approach to calculating how much a life insurance death benefit should be. It involves taking into account 4 key factors, as delineated by the acronym “DIME.” These factors include:

1. Debt: All of your existing debt needs to be added up to calculate how much it would cost to repay the balance due after an untimely death.
2. Income: If you’re purchasing life insurance, you should determine how much your annual income is and how many years of income replacement are needed to provide for your family. For instance, if your spouse and children would be relying on your $50,000 yearly income for 15 more years, then $750,000 in coverage would be the necessary amount of coverage needed.
3. Mortgage: A lot of people want surviving family members to be able to stay in the family home. So the mortgage balance will have to be taken into  consideration and added to the amount of life insurance coverage purchased.
4. Education: Education can be  really expensive. To ensure your children get a proper education, you might figure out how high educational costs would be and then add that amount to the death benefit of your life insurance policy.

Explore Policy Types: Take a look at Graded Death Benefit policies and Guaranteed Issue life insurance. Each of these types are excellent options for people with high cholesterol that are having problems securing life insurance.

Use Specialized Services: Check out services such as Insuranceopedia. This online service obtains quotes from various providers and compares rates to help you get life insurance that is affordable and adequate for your individual needs.

What Is High Cholesterol?

About 73.5 million adults in the United states have high or “bad” cholesterol.

Hyperlipidemia, or high cholesterol, is a word that describes high levels of lipids, such as cholesterol and triglycerides, in the blood. Lipids are a type of fat that is necessary for good health. The thing is, though, that  high levels of lipids can raise the risk of specific health problems, such as stroke and heart disease. There are two main types of hyperlipidemia:

1. Primary
2. Secondary

Primary hyperlipidemia is a genetic condition that has been inherited from your parents. There are usually other factors, also, like obesity, an unhealthy diet, lack of physical activity, high blood pressure, smoking, diabetes, and/or certain medications that cause secondary hyperlipidemia.

Hyperlipidemia symptoms are usually absent, but the condition can be detected through a blood test. If hyperlipidemia is diagnosed, treatment may include lifestyle changes, like eating a healthy diet, getting regular physical activity, smoking cessation, and medication. It’s critically important to manage hyperlipidemia in order to lessen the risk of heart disease as well as other health problems.

There are two major types of cholesterol: LDL (low-density lipoprotein) and HDL (high-density lipoprotein). LDL cholesterol, otherwise referred to as “bad” cholesterol, can build up in the walls of your arteries. This can lead to a condition called atherosclerosis, which in turn increases the risk of heart attack and stroke. HDL cholesterol, or “good” cholesterol, helps remove LDL cholesterol from the arteries.

Hyperlipoproteinemia is a very common disorder that causes you to have  hypercholesterolemia or high cholesterol. This condition is caused by the body’s inability to break down certain fats, typically cholesterol and triglycerides.

Possible complications of high cholesterol levels may include:

• Heart disease: Too much cholesterol can build up in the walls of arteries walls and lead to atherosclerosis. This might increase the risk of heart attack and stroke.
• Pancreatitis: High blood triglycerides can increase your risk of pancreatitis, which causes inflammation of your pancreas.
• Kidney disease: High cholesterol levels can boost the risk of kidney disease, land can even lead to kidney failure.
• Gallstones: High cholesterol levels can increase risk of gallstones, which are hard deposits in the gallbladder.
• Peripheral artery disease: High cholesterol levels can increase your risk of peripheral artery disease, (PAD) which causes the arteries in the legs to constrict.

Treatments for high cholesterol include:

Lifestyle changes and medication. The treatment plan will be based on the type and severity of the high cholesterol and someone’s overall health plus their risk of developing complications.

Lifestyle changes that may be recommended to manage hyperlipidemia include:

• A healthy diet: A healthy diet might include limiting the amount of saturated and trans fats you consume, increasing fiber, and choosing healthy fats like monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats.
• Regular physical activity: Strive to get at least half an hour of moderate intensity activity, for instance brisk walking, most days.
• Losing weight: Losing weight can help improve your cholesterol levels if you’re overweight or obese.
• Quit smoking: Smoking can increase cholesterol levels and increase your risk of heart disease and stroke.
• Limit alcohol: Alcohol in moderation might be okay, but excessive alcohol consumption can increase unhealthy cholesterol levels.
• If lifestyle changes aren’t enough to control high cholesterol, there are medications designed especially for this condition that your doctor may prescribe.

Other Health Concerns That Can Affect Your Life Insurance

When you apply for life insurance, providers will inquire about any conditions that might have an impact on your approval or the cost of your premiums for life insurance:

• Asthma: Depending on the severity, asthma might affect insurance rates
• Alzheimer’s/Dementia: These conditions can have a sizable effect on insurability
• Heart Disease: A common but serious health condition that may cause higher premiums or denial of coverage
• Liver Disease: Conditions such as cirrhosis of the liver may impact your life insurance policy
• Lung Disease: Chronic conditions such as COPD can mean increased premiums
• Substance Use Disorders: A history of drug and/or alcohol abuse can affect insurability
• High Blood Pressure: Well-managed hypertension may have a slight effect on your life insurance coverage or rates
• Kidney Disease: Chronic kidney disease can cause higher insurance premiums
• Cancer: Depending on the stage and type of cancer, it can affect insurability
• High cholesterol: With modern advances in medicine, many providers will now offer life insurance policies to people with high cholesterol
• Depression: Mental health conditions such as depression may impact coverage
• Diabetes: Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes may both increase your insurance premiums
• Stroke: A history of stroke may raise premium rates
• Lung Disease: Chronic conditions such as COPD can bring higher premiums
• Obesity: A higher BMI may cause insurance premiums
• Rheumatoid Arthritis: This chronic condition can lead to more costly premiums
• High cholesterol: This can cause higher insurance rates