Life Insurance for Women with Heart Disease

In this article, we are going to talk about women with heart disease, how having heart disease impacts your ability to get life insurance, and how you can find the best-priced life insurance if you are a women with heart disease.

Yes, women with heart disease can get life insurance – and at great rates too.

As far as health problems go, heart disease is one of the worst in the United States. It is America’s leading cause of death and it kills more than 600,000 people every year.

While this epidemic does have a tremendous impact on both sexes, the condition seems to affect women more than men. This cardiovascular monster affects one in every four women, and every 80 seconds a woman dies from heart disease. In 2013 alone, heart disease killed nearly 300,000 women.

The prospects of developing a serious heart condition are scary. That’s why it’s important to plan ahead. Life insurance represents a great way to take care of your loved ones when you die.

Let’s examine life insurance for women with heart disease. We can show you how to improve your standing and lower your rates. Don’t let previous heart conditions dissuade you from getting life insurance.

You always have options, so read on.  Don’t make your family pay the price for a lack of life insurance.

How Does Heart Disease in Women Affect Life Insurance?

Heart disease is an umbrella term that can describe various cardiovascular diseases. Coronary artery disease, arrhythmias, atrial fibrillation and  all fall under the same heading as heart disease. All life insurance companies look at heart disease as a potential risk for new policies.

The problems with heart disease underwriting for life insurance is that other risk factors are always present with the disease. There are combinations of health conditions to underwrite every single time.

Underwriting Heart Disease Life Insurance For Women – These are the Risk Factors

Age

As we age, our bodies are less capable of recovering from a severe heart condition. Women are usually 10 years older than men when the first receive a diagnosis of coronary artery disease (CAD). Women are 20 years older when a heart attack occurs, however they may end up in poorer physical condition afterwards.

When considering new life insurance policies for women with heart disease, your age at the time of application is one of the most important factors. Your age at the time of diagnosis will also come into play.

Hypertension

Once women reach 45, they are more likely to develop high blood pressure. Since this puts more stress on the heart, high blood pressure can affect how insurers look at your life insurance policy.

Lipids or High Cholesterol

High cholesterol is a huge problem for Americans. Increased levels of fat in our bodies can lead to increased chances of heart disease. If your cholesterol levels are getting higher, you are more at risk for a heart attack and coronary artery disease.

Smoking

It should go without saying that smoking has a lot of negative effects on your body. Smoking can increase your risk of heart problems by up to six times.  Most alarming though – smoking can double your risk of sudden death.

Fortunately, quitting smoking reduces this risk substantially.

Diabetes

Women with diabetes have it worse than men.  It’s true.

With men, the risk for heart disease is two to three times higher with diabetes. For women however, diabetes increases their risk for heart disease 6 times.

How about other cardiovascular diseases, like strokes? Women with Type 1 diabetes were almost 40% more likely to have a stroke.

Because of these facts, the type of diabetes you have, your management and your age at diagnosis will all play a role in your life insurance approval.

Obesity

Having too much weight is bad for your health, and this should come as no surprise.  For women as it relates to life insurance, body shape is more of a factor than anything else when it comes to weight.

More and more research is suggesting excessive abdominal fat in women creates more of a cardiovascular risk than fat distributed elsewhere.  An apple-shaped body creates more of a risk than a pear-shaped body type.

When were you diagnosed with heart disease?

Depending on the heart disease, sometimes an earlier diagnosis points to higher life insurance rates and sometimes it does not.

It is a double-edged sword, as life insurers want to get a comprehensive view of your overall health.  For some cases of heart disease, catching it early and handling the disease leads to lower rates.  For other instances of heart disease – like a heart attack – it is better to happen later in life when you are older.

Serious heart conditions that happen early in life usually point to more serious conditions down the road.  In any heart disease though, your date of diagnosis will be important.

What is the treatment plan for your heart disease?

When you seek life insurance with heart disease, underwriters look at past treatments. Do you take medication to keep heart disease under control?  Usually this is seen as a good sign and can lower your rates.

When it comes to medications, do what your doctor prescribes.

Family History

When heart disease runs in your family, that can affect your life insurance policy. Environmental factors are a huge component of assessing cardiovascular disease risk. However biological markers can pass from one generation to the next.

For family history as it relates to heart disease, we are concerned with your parents and siblings. Did they die or were they diagnosed with cardiovascular disease before age 60?

If so – don’t lose hope.  Some insurance companies are very strict on family history and some others are not.

Work with one of our underwriting experts. They will make sure you pick the best life insurance company for your family history.

Life Insurance for Women with Heart Disease – How Do You Get the Best Rates?

You have options to lower your life insurance premium while having heart disease. Even if you had a heart attack or CAD in the past, take necessary steps to improve your health now.

Here are some ways that you can better your rates and lower your premiums.

Improve Your Diet

It’s no secret that if you eat a lot of fried foods that it will put a lot of pressure on your heart. Switch to heart-healthy items and avoid food that can increase your cholesterol or blood pressure.

This move can have a net positive effect on your body and potentially your life insurance premiums.

Exercise Regularly

One of the best things about the human heart is that it is so resilient. No matter how bad things get, you can always reverse and improve them. One of the best ways to strengthen your heart involves regular exercise.

The benefits of exercise are well documented, and you don’t even have to hit the gym every day. Even low-impact exercise can make a difference in your heart health and your life insurance rates.

Control what you can control and stop the bad habits

Smoking is a major risk factor that can affect your life insurance policy. Smoking can prevent you from even getting life insurance in the first place.  If you are a smoker, quit. Your body is much healthier afterwards.

Other bad habits to avoid include excessive drinking, overeating and poor diet.  However, you probably knew this already.

Show your life insurance company that you’re taking care of your body.  Most importantly this increases the healthy years you have ahead of you. A great secondary benefit is you qualify for lower life insurance premiums.

Follow Doctor’s Orders

Your primary care physician is your best friend when it comes to your risk factors for heart disease. Your doctor can discuss how these risk factors affect you personally.

Your doctor will outline a plan of action to reduce your risk of heart disease. Follow it as closely as possible. Doing so proves that you are less of a risk. Less risk means a better life insurance policy for someone with heart disease.

Women – Here’s What They Won’t Tell You About Life Iinsurance with Heart Disease

Look.  Getting a life insurance policy with heart disease is not as simple as getting a life insurance policy for a healthier person.  Your rates will reflect that.

Substandard rates are most likely

You can expect substandard rates and health classes for females with serious heart disease.  This is not as bad as it sounds, because even with substandard rates life insurance is very affordable.

For a 50 year old female with serious heart disease and substandard rates, this is what she could expect to pay for life insurance.  The below example is with a 20 year term policy.

To run these quotes, use our quote form, select “Standard” for the health class, and estimate an additional 50% to the standard rates.

Standard rates are likely for ladies with minor heart disease

Minor heart diseases like mitral valve prolapse and some bundle branch blocks can be approved at standard rates.

We will also get standard rates for things like high blood pressure or high cholesterol controlled with medication.

We also approved a case at standard after a heart attack.  This is the exception however, as most standard approvals with heart diseases are for minor heart disease.

For a 50 year old female with mild heart disease and standard rates, this is what she would pay monthly.  The below example is with a 20 year term life insurance policy.

To run these quotes for yourself, use our quote form and select “Standard” for the health class.

Preferred rates are possible, however not likely.

Preferred rates are possible for very minor heart diseases, like one instance of exercise induced atrial fibrillation many years ago.  Or high cholesterol controlled with medication and a healthy body mass index (BMI, or healthy height and weight).

Preferred rates are not the norm in these cases because heart disease is very serious.

For a 50 year old female with great health and preferred rates, this is what she could expect to pay for life insurance.  The below example is with a 20 year term policy.

To run these quotes for yourself, use our quote form and select “Preferred” for the health class

Do You Have Heart Disease? You Need Life Insurance.

What’s important to remember is that there are no set rules regarding life insurance and heart disease. You could get a quote from one life insurance company, but an entirely different quote from another.

Nothing changed in your health status or the information you provide. The only difference was the companies you talked to when shopping for a policy.

Work with one of our underwriting experts.  It’s free, and we have over 60 different “A-Rated” life insurance companies to choose from. This way you are exposed to many options and more choice means you pay less.

Do You Want to Leave Your Family with a Huge Financial Burden? Of Course Not.

You do not want to be a burden on your family when you die.  We understand, and your life insurance is there to help.

The purpose of this article was to provide the tools you need to make a good decision for your family.

No matter your disease or prognosis, you do have options for life insurance.  However, it will never be less expensive tomorrow.

Take the next step and let’s get started today.