Life Insurance for Heart Patients and What You Need to Know

What is a Heart Condition?

The term heart condition is often interchangeably used for cardiovascular disease. This situation generally revolves around your heart and is of various types with different symptoms. As per the latest surveys conducted all over the world, this is turning out to be an epidemic where one person out of four suffers from one or the other problem of the heart.

The disease under the umbrella of ‘heart condition’ can be anything, starting from a problem in the blood vessels, congenital heart defects, rhythm problem, muscle problems in the heart, improper functioning of valves, the electrical system of the heart not working correctly – the list is endless. Mostly heart disease develops over the course of time and affects our lives as we grow older.

What is the most common type of heart problem?

There are many types of heart problems, the majority of which we can classify as:

1. Coronary Heart disease: Coronary arteries supply blood and nutrients to the heart muscle. The cause of this can be damage or disease due to the deposit of cholesterol, which results in a restricted supply of oxygen and nutrients.
2. Congenital Heart disease: This is a general term used for deformities present in the heart since birth like septaldefects, obstruction defects, and cyanotic defects.
3. Arrhythmia: We use this term for an irregular heartbeat, the heart loses its rhythm in several ways which can be faster than usual known as tachycardia or slower heartbeat known as bradycardia. This condition occurs when the electrical impulses are not in tandem.
4. Myocardial Infarction: The general term for this is a heart attack or coronary thrombosis. The cause is usually clot or deposit in the coronary artery which restricts the supply of oxygen
5. Mitral valve prolapse: The valve between the two chambers of the heart does not close properly. This condition is not life threatening but if the situation deteriorates treatment is required.

Who are at risk and how to prevent?

There are many reasons and lifestyle choices which cause the increase of heart disease and a few of them are:

1. High blood pressure and cholesterol
2. Smoking
3. Being Overweight
4. Diabetes
5. Junk food
6. Previous family history of heart disease
7. Sedentary jobs

Any of the above risk factors increase the chance of heart disease. Fortunately, there are ways of preventing heart disease like keeping a healthy body weight, refraining from smoking, exercising regularly, maintaining a balanced diet, maintaining stress and limiting alcohol consumption. These simple habits will help to keepheart disease at bay.

Life Insurance with heart condition

Does life insurance cover heart attacks? Life insurance companies have started to realize the fact that heart disease is a way of life in today’s modern world. Previously it was a straight decline if any such condition was detected, but not anymore. The treatment and management of heart conditions have made the life insurance companies rethink and also provide cover to people suffering from such diseases.

To get insured the first step is to know about the heart condition you have and the severity of it. Some of the conditions are severe, but we can manage others through proper treatment and medication. You have to know the category of risk you fall into as per the life insurance company.

How do Insurance Companies define risk?

Heart disease will never fetch you an excellent rating, but we can classify it into standard or average risk which means life cover after heart attack policies can still involve low premiums. Additionally, you can take measures to lower your risk assessment by not adding obesity, smoking, inactivity or increased stress levels to your list.

With life insurance for heart patients, conditions like Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) always falls under the category of risky but congenital heart condition like irregular heartbeat can be termed as low risk. Talk to your doctor regarding the ways to lower the risk and let your insurance agent know about the measures that you are taking.

Insurance companies are likely to ask the following questions:

1. Do you have any family history of heart condition?
2. Have you suffered any cardiac events in the past?
3. Did you seek medical treatment or have you been diagnosed with a heart condition?

Remember to provide honest and accurate answers.

Getting Life Insurance with a Heart Condition

If you have a heart condition do not panic, people are still getting covered. The first step is to talk to an independent agent who specializes in high-risk clients. If you are denied cover due to a heart condition, then you are not with the correct agent. A competent insurance agent will get you a fair deal with a life cover after heart attack policy.

Medical conditions like angioplasty, heart attack or surgery with stents or artificial valves do not necessarily result in the decline of cover. If there is no complication for a specified period and during surgery and your condition is stable with the improvement, you are always eligible for a heart failure insurance but if you have suffered a stroke or underwent bypass surgery, the minimum waiting period is twelve months.

Every life insurance policy is evaluated on a case-by-case basis by the underwriters. No two life insurance company’s procedure is the same for life insurance for people who have had heart attacks. Make sure that you consult your life insurance expert who knows multiple companies.

Follow the instructions given by your doctors as they help you to lead a better life which the insurance companies look into for approval. Those who provide life insurance want to see that you are changing for a better life not just living the same life.Looking at the change they will be more likely to approve your case.

Life Insurances Policies

In the worst possible scenario, if you get declined for term life insurance, all is not lost. There are still some companies where you might get approval which we call Guaranteed Acceptance Life Insurance or simplified life insurance policies. These types of life insurance after heart attackpolicies will cost you more as they have graded death benefit and additionally, a much lower ceiling for maximum coverage.

Survivorship policies are there to ease you out where they consider the health of both the parties during the underwriting process.So, if your spouse is in better health than you, your premiums reduce considerably.

Term Life insurance policies are also a good option for people with heart disease; you have to go through a health assessment when you apply for them. The premiums on term life plans are substantially lower and simple policies without the bells and whistles that increase the premium rates. The latest studies show that heart patients are more likely to obtain primary or preferred life insurance rates by shopping around.

Prevention is Better than Cure

Theinsurance market is still evolving, and insurance companies are looking at a few diseases with a different perspective, and one of them is heart disease. The market still has products which will help you to be secure in case of any fatalities. It is cheaper to buy ten years early than one minute too late. Contact your insurance agent today for more information.