Diabetes And Weight Not A Killer For Life Insurance Approval!

I know there’s a point where a lot of people won’t even bother looking into life insurance anymore. They figure they’ve messed the picture up bad enough that there really isn’t any need to waste time donating blood and waiting 3 or 4 weeks to have someone tell you that they would prefer not to participate in your risk.

A couple of things have become very apparent over the last 14 years. 1. Morbidly obese people don’t want to apply for life insurance. I don’t want to pretend to understand, but I can think of several reasons I might not want to apply for insurance if I was way yonder overweight. Doubt of getting approved? Don’t like stepping on scales? 2. People who smoke cigarettes very seldom buy life insurance. No dancing around this one. Life insurance for smokers can cost 2-4 times more than life insurance for a comparable non smoker. It certainly cuts down on your bang for the buck, but let’s be adults about this. It isn’t about your bang for the buck. It’s about your family’s future. Even if you can only afford $150,000 instead of the $500,000 you would like, would you really rather leave zero than $150,000? That’s just rude.

I had a client contact me last week who is 6’1, 375 pounds and has type 2 diabetes. Even with all the blogging I’ve done on being able to get large people approved, this guy was sure I would here his weight and politely or not, tell him there was no way. He never even thought we would get to the subject of his diabetes which is well controlled. Now here’s a guy that 99.9% of companies would tell, “lose the weight, get rid of the diabetes, and the come talk to us”, but I assured him that there were at least a few companies out there that would be on board. We shopped it and got two offers representing .1% of the companies in the US licensed to sell life insurance. Prudential is just unbeatable in these situations. They haven’t fluctuated on their build chart in a decade and in the absence of a lot of other health issues they hang in there with weight better than any other company.

Just a sampling of builds that are still insurable if there aren’t any complicating factors, 5’3, 310, 5’6, 340, 5’9 375, 6′, 405. Don’t expect to be tipping the scales to that extent and then load a bunch of health issues on and expect approval. My guy above had wiggle room on the diabetes because the max weight at his height with Prudential was 420. But again let’s get real. When you weigh that much you have two choices, either lose weight or start counting the health issues as they pile up. Diabetes, high blood pressure, circulation problems, cancer and more. My advice. Get life insurance before health issues start and then start working on the weight. Whether it’s diet and exercise or gastric bypass surgery, get it done.

Bottom line. The key is to be bold enough to apply and to be real. Don’t estimate your weight. Go find out what it is for real so quotes are relevant. There are limitations, but they are a lot higher than most people think. If you have any questions or need a quote on something you believe isn’t insurable, call or email me directly. Let’s talk.