Heart Attack Insurance Questions & Answers
How do life insurance underwriters view a person who had a heart attack?
Life insurance for people who have had a heart attack is often viewed as being a higher risk to insure by many insurance carriers. How a person is rated and assessed by different insurers will depend on a broad variety of variables used to assess a person’s life insurance application.
Because a heart attack can result in permanent damage to the heart muscle, there is often an increased risk of incurring additional heart attacks which can result in being fatal.
As a person’s life expectancy is potentially affected, some insurers will view a heart attack as being more risky when determining how to rate a person, or decline the application. A person who is applying for a traditional life insurance policy will be required to have a medical exam.
Each life insurance company uses its own criteria in how a person will be rated. When it comes to considering life insurance for people who have had a heart attack, the following underwriting standards may be used:
- Age of the person
- When the heart attack was diagnosed
- The extent of damage to the heart
- Cause of the heart attack
- How it was treated
- Medications being used to treat the person
- Whether there have been regular visits to the cardiologist
- Results of ECG and other applicable diagnostic tests
- Cholesterol and high blood pressure measurements
- Existence of other health related conditions
- Lifestyle habits
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What are the health risks of a heart attack?
A heart attack is a serious medical condition and can stem from a variety of causes. It is also sometimes referred to as a myocardial infarction (MI) and is generally caused by blockage of one of the arteries.
Some of the causes that precipitate a heart attack include coronary heart disease or arthrosclerosis, a blood clot or a coronary artery spasm.
There are multiple symptoms associated with a heart attack which include severe chest pain also known as angina, pain which radiates down the left side of the arm, shortness of breath, nausea and/or vomiting, sweating excessively, and anxiety.
A heart attack may require an extensive surgical procedure, the use of a stent and will generally require a medication regimen. A heart attack can be fatal and successful treatment may also require substantial changes in a person’s lifestyle.
Finding life Insurance with a heart attack
Success in finding life insurance for people who have had a heart attack can be challenging as most life insurance companies have vastly different ways in how they evaluate a person when reviewing their life insurance application.
Each insurer has its own criteria and requirements for issuing a traditional policy. People who incurred a heart attack will find that different companies will rate them differently and in the premium charged.
Some life insurers have a more lenient and liberal approach while other life insurers are much more stringent and rigid in how underwriters will rate a person.
More severe cases may be declined altogether. Some individuals who have experienced a heart attack may have to seek out companies which specialize in high risk health issues or seek another form of policy such as a Guaranteed Issue life policy.
The insurance agents below are listed by the number of contributor points they have earned from answering questions related specifically to Heart Attack. You may click on an agent to view their individual agent profile.
- 65 Points
- 25 Points
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- 20 Points
- 15 Points
- 10 Points
- 10 Points