High Risk or Pre-existing Condition? How to Get Life Insurance If You Are Uninsurable

You want to take care of your family, especially if something tragic happens, but the strict medical screenings of life insurance providers disqualify you from getting coverage because you fall into the “High Risk” category. There are many reasons for that, age, cancer, heart disease, longstanding illness, and there’s little you can do about changing your status. So how do you go about getting life insurance?

Fortunately, there are a few ways to guarantee you’re covered regardless of how high-risk you are to insurance providers. It will take a little more time to find the right policy, but it’s possible to make sure your family is provided for no matter what happens to you.
The most common way for high risk people to get life insurance is through their job. Many companies provide benefits packages that include life insurance. The company is required to extend that option to you regardless of health or known medical issues.

There are some drawbacks, of course. The employer policies are generally much smaller than those found through insurance providers. That means somewhere around $20,000 (some may go as high as $50,000) of coverage, which isn’t very much at all after the costs of a funeral. But keep in mind that it’s better than nothing. Another problem is that the coverage only lasts as long as you’re with the company. If you leave or retire, you’re not covered anymore, and if you’re of retirement age when you leave, you’ll probably be uninsurable anywhere else.

If that’s not the right option for you, try “guaranteed-issue life insurance.” These are basically the same as standard life insurance policies, but they require no screening or medical exams before being approved. Of course, that means you’ll have to pay more for the policy. You might have to pay (are you ready for this?) up to three to five times the rate of regular life insurance policies. But if you’re retired or uninsurable, it’s the only real option, and caring for family is often worth the added cost.

There are actually several kinds of guaranteed-issue life insurance. Some can be applied toward outstanding debt, and will pay off that debt in the event of death. For instance, a common type is “mortgage life insurance.” If you pass away, the policy will pay off the balance of your mortgage, which relieves a significant burden from any family you leave behind.

If you decide to go with the guaranteed-issue life insurance policy, make sure to do your research before signing. The rates for these policies can differ significantly between providers, so you’ll want to make sure you’ve looked at all your options before picking one.

If you want to find the best insurance providers, check out our review of life insurance companies. We’ve taken the most popular and reliable life insurance providers and compared their service and policies. Then we ranked them with a side-by-side comparison of their features so you can easily see which is best for you.

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