Life Insurance with Athlete’s Heart

Exercising regularly is always seen as a good thing because it helps your body stay in shape and keeps you in much better condition than if you didn’t exercise. However, if you suffer from the phenomenon known as Athlete’s Heart, then you know that there is such a thing as “too much” exercise.

Ironically enough, while this condition is rarely damaging to your system, the fact is that it could potentially affect your ability to get quality life insurance. Let’s get this right out of the way:

Can you get life insurance with athlete’s heart? Yes.

As such, we are going to look at all of the factors that go into studying and analyzing this condition and how it relates to your life insurance policy.

If you want to skip ahead to the bread and butter, just fill out the quote request below and one of our underwriting experts can do the heavy lifting for you!

How Does Athlete’s Heart Affect Life Insurance?

First and foremost, we should mention that life insurance is a complex industry, and each company is different with how they consider certain factors. Thus, what we are going to be discussing is a generic guideline, rather than hard fact.

You should always request a quote from our underwriting experts, even if you are worried about your condition. We will take a comprehensive look at your situation, meaning that the effects of Athlete’s Heart may or may not be significant.

In most cases, athlete’s heart alters test results which can make it seem as if you are suffering from more serious heart problems.

This is another reason to work with us directly as we can figure out what options you have as well as what you can do to mitigate these factors.

To Approve your Policy, Think like an Underwriter

Again, most companies will take a more comprehensive approach when looking at your condition, which means that you will you have to answer several questions to provide a clearer picture of what is going on.

Here is an overview of what most insurers will look at for athlete’s heart life insurance approvals:

Age

While this condition itself doesn’t usually pose a threat, as we get older it could potentially exacerbate other heart problems, which could make you more of a risk to insure.

Generally speaking, patients over forty are scrutinized more than those that are younger.

Date of Diagnosis

Overall, the longer that you have lived with a heart condition, and the longer you have treated it, the less of a risk that you will be. So, if your diagnosis was six months ago, you may not be in as good of a position as you would if you were diagnosed six years ago.

The other side to this is to determine if your heart has improved since it was discovered or gotten worse. If things are looking up, then you will most likely get a much better rate.

Smoking

No matter what, if you are a smoker then you could be denied coverage. This is because smoking does significant damage to your body, which also means that it could worsen the effects of a condition like Athlete’s Heart.

Also, if you were previously a smoker, insurers will consider you to be less of a risk the longer that you have gone without smoking. Much like the date of diagnosis, earlier is always better.

Exercise Tests

Since this condition directly correlates with your exercise levels, insurers want to know if you have done any cardiac tests, such as a measured treadmill exam or electrocardiogram. If you have, then the next question will be if the results were normal or abnormal.

If you haven’t taken these tests yet, then your insurance company may request that you do so that they can get a better sense of your condition. However, this usually depends on the amount you are applying for.

No matter what, however, you should be upfront and honest about it. Just because you haven’t taken a cardiac exam doesn’t mean that you will get denied coverage.

Another thing to consider with regard to exercise is how often you do it. If you are training rigorously for a marathon, for example, then Athlete’s Heart will most likely be benign, meaning that it won’t affect your coverage much at all.

Conversely, if you are just going to the gym a few times a week and you have this condition, it could be a sign of something much more serious.

Other Heart Problems

While Athlete’s Heart is not a serious condition, when it is coupled with additional heart issues then it can make them worse. So, if you suffer from anything from an irregular heartbeat to high cholesterol, then it may affect your coverage.

What’s important to know here is that medication also plays an important role. If you do suffer from heart disease but are treating it regularly based on your doctor’s recommendation, then insurers will look more favorably on your situation.

Family History

Finally, if you have relatives that suffer from coronary artery disease or have died from a heart attack, you may be considered more of a risk. As with any heart conditions, closer family members can have more of an impact (i.e. parents) than distant relatives.

Overall, the thing to remember with all of these factors is to be open and honest about them. If you try to hide any part of your medical history or treatment, then it may preclude you from getting covered at all.

Insurance companies prefer to have all of the facts pertaining to your case before they make a decision, so it’s never a good idea to have missing information from your file, even if you think it might be damaging.

Why Diagnosis is Crucial

Having an enlarged heart can be a cause for alarm if you don’t know what’s really going on beneath the surface. If you try to get life insurance without having a proper diagnosis, then you may be considered a higher risk and have to pay an inflated rate.

The best way to be sure that it is Athlete’s Heart is to consult your doctor and take cardiac exams. The more information you can get about your condition, the better off you will be when trying to get insurance.

Potential Life Insurance Rates with Athlete’s Heart

Once again, remember that each insurance company is different, so you may get conflicting quotes if you go to two different agencies. As such, it’s always a good idea to shop around if you aren’t sure what kind of rate you can get. It never hurts to ask for a quote, and it will give you a chance to compare insurance options to see which coverage is right for you.

In fact, some insurers may consider you to be even less of a risk because you exercise more often than most.

Preferred / Preferred Plus

To get this rate, you have to otherwise be in a clean bill of health and have no family history of heart disease. Also, if you have not had any cardiac exams done, most insurers will require them to put you in this category.

Standard

If you have minor heart-related problems such as high cholesterol or high blood pressure, then you will most likely get standard rates.

Mild to Moderate Substandard Rates

More serious heart problems will probably affect your rate more substantially, along with a family history of heart disease. The severity of these problems will be taken into account to ensure that you are still getting the best rate possible.

Denial

Usually, this will only happen if your Athlete’s Heart is combined with severe heart disease or heart failure. Also, if you refuse to take cardiac exams and your medical history is suspect, most insurers will deny or postpone coverage because there are unknown factors.

What’s important to remember is that if you are denied by one insurance company that doesn’t mean that you cannot get life insurance.

If you were denied before coming to us, the best thing to do would be to gather the pertinent information about your case and then work with our independent underwriting experts to see what options are available.

Qualifying for Life Insurance with Athlete’s Heart

Whenever dealing with insurance companies, it’s always better to give more information than less. When assessing risk, underwriters consider uncertainty to be the most critical factor, so don’t allow that to happen.

Also, if an underwriter does ask for additional testing, it will most likely provide you with a better chance of lower rates or better coverage.

Where do you go from here?

Remember this: your family needs this protection. What are they going to do with the bills when you die? Trust me: when you have enough life insurance, you sleep soundly and the peace of mind is incredible.

We are the experts in underwriting athlete’s heart life insurance approvals, along with any other heart conditions. You will find the absolute best rates in the market, right here.

The choice is clear, and the time is now.

Fill out a quote request, and let’s get to work for your family today.