It’s All About Age And Control!

I suppose with that title this post could go about any direction, but what I had in mind was life insurance as affected by type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Both types of diabetes, given optimal age of onset, current age and control as measured by your quarterly A1c readings can garner very competitive rates on life insurance, so let’s break that down into some useful information and guidelines.

1. Type 1 diabetes, while the more complex of the two types to underwrite, breaks down pretty easily into guidelines that can be followed to consider how your life insurance and your budget might turn out. For simplicity let’s assume that the current age of these different scenarios are all 36. The sweet spot for rates would be with an age of onset or diagnosis after age 30. A 38 year old with an A1c in the 7 range could expect $250,000 of 30 year term to cost about $615.00 a year. If the age of onset was between 20 and 30 with the same control the price would likely be about 698.00 a year. If you see the trend here, the earlier the onset the higher the premium. If onset was in your teenage years your $250,000 of life insurance at age 38 would likely be near $875.00 annually. True juvenile onset, under age 10, would likely be looking at life insurance rates of about $1143.00. We’ll talk control and collateral health issues in #3.
2. With life insurance and type 2 diabetes age of onset shifts to older ages with under age 40 being the tougher to underwrite and over age 50 and over age 60 becoming significantly easier. The reason older onset is “better” is simply because diabetes, over time, even with fair control can lead to other health issues that shorten mortality. So good control with an A1c under 7 or even under 6.5 is the target. So, if someone age 46 diagnosed before age 40 purchased $250,000 of 30 year term with good control their rate would be about $1800.00 a year. For someone age 56 whose age of diagnosis was age 52 their rate for $250,000 of 20 year term life insurance (30 year no longer available) would be $1935.00 a year. For someone age 65 with onset at age 61 the life insurance cost would likely be about $3940.00 a year.
3. So what about control and collateral health issues. You doctor monitors your A1c quarterly for control reasons and life insurance underwriters put a lot of weight on the levels and consistency. With type 2 diabetes optimal control is between 6 and 7 while with type 1 doctors and underwriters are comfortable with a less aggressive 6.5 to 7.5. The common denominators between type 1 and type 2 diabetes collateral health issues seems to be heart disease and kidney disease and malfunction. If any of the collateral health issues are present when you apply for life insurance it could easily lead to a decline, or at least a highly rated policy.

Bottom line. It’s almost all about age and control. The other thing that plays into the big picture is compliance. In order to maintain control and avoid health problems related to diabetes, following doctor’s instructions is crucial and the life insurance underwriter will know by reviewing your medical records. If you have any questions or feel like you’ve run into mistreatment in life insurance due to diabetes, call or email me directly. My name is Ed Hinerman. Let’s talk.