Business Life Insurance With HIV

Having just placed a $9 million business life insurance key man policy, I can tell you that the welcome mat is out for those in business or for personal needs who have well controlled HIV. It’s no secret that being HIV+ has changed medically with, in many cases, one pill a day rendering the virus at a loss, as in “You lose virus!”. This hasn’t been lost on life insurance underwriters and while they hardly change at the pace of a speeding bullet, they do change and the changes are exciting to see.

The last few years have been a home run for CEO’s needing life insurance for loan collateral, business partners needing funding for buy/sell agreements, couples who are adopting and have to provide proof of life insurance, and families that can finally rest easier knowing that insurance can cover the unexpected death of mate. There have been so many false starts with HIV+ life insurance but we now have 5 years of stability and gains in both pricing and product availability. We can now go as high as $10 million of term or permanent life insurance for both business and personal needs and for business purposes we can get yearly renewable term up to $100 million, a long way from the days of hoping to piece together guaranteed issue policies that might amount to $100,000.

The criteria for approval are:

1. Self disclosed diagnosis. Best rates are if diagnosis was more than 2 and less than 10 years ago. More than 10 years can still be approved.
2. Compliant with antiretroviral therapy (ART) for at least two consecutive years
3. Followed by an HIV or infectious disease specialist minimally every six months
4. Undetectable viral load since starting ART, minimally 2 years
5. CD4 of 500 or more for the past two years and never below 350
6. Current negative Hep B&C testing and no history of hepatitis
7. No viral resistance to treatment
8. No history of IV drug use or other substance abuse
9. No history of other ratable health issues such as CAD, diabetes, cancer or protein in the urine
10. No significant psychiatric history
11. Not underweight or losing weight, normal protein levels
12. No AIDS defining illness
13. No smokers

Bottom line. Tight criteria, but fair. While the guaranteed issue products may still be the only option for those that are needing minimal amounts of insurance, those with life insurance needs of $500,000 or more just need to inquire. If you have questions or need quotes, or need business life insurance in a hurry, call or email me directly. My name is Ed Hinerman. Let’s talk.