In this article, we wanted to take a moment and try and answer some of the most common questions we get from folks applying for life insurance after they have been prescribed Exelon or its generic form Rivastigmine Tartrate to treat Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and/or symptoms of dementia.

Questions that will be directly addressed will include:

• Can I qualify for life insurance after I’ve been prescribed Exelon?
• What can I do to help ensure that I get the “best life insurance” for myself?

So, without further ado, let’s dive right in!

Can I qualify for life insurance after I’ve been prescribed Exelon?

Unfortunately, Exelon is one of those prescription medications that most (if not all) insurance underwriters automatically use to immediately disqualify one from qualifying for a traditional term or whole life insurance policy. This is because Exelon is a prescription medication that is used to help treat or minimize the damaging effects that Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease can have on its victims.

And…

Unfortunately, Alzheimer’s disease is one of many diseases that insurance companies are simply not willing to insure when it comes to a “traditional” type of life insurance product. This is why once we learn that an individual has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease or has been prescribed Exelon, the first thing that we want to do is determine the following:

• How old is the potential applicant?
• How much insurance is the potential applicant looking for?
• And is the potential applicant a US citizen?

This is because…

There are “alternative” life insurance products available to those who may not be able to qualify for a traditional term or whole life insurance policy, provided that they are at least 45 and a US citizen currently living within the United States. The problem is that because these “types” of life insurance policies are considered guaranteed issue life insurance policies that won’t deny coverage to anyone due to a pre-existing medical condition (with one major exception, which we will discuss later), they do come with what we consider three significant disadvantages compared to a traditional term or whole life insurance policy.

So…

Let’s take a moment to discuss those disadvantages so that you can get a better idea of whether purchasing a guaranteed-issue life insurance policy is going to be “right” for you.

#1 Disadvantage to Guaranteed Issue Life Insurance Policies.

Cost.  Now, when we say that cost is a major disadvantage to these “types” of life insurance policies, we don’t want to give you the impression that they are super expensive because, in many cases, they are. It’s just that dollar-for-dollar, guaranteed-issue life insurance policies will cost more than traditional term or whole life insurance policies.  This is simply another way of saying that per “unit of coverage,” these “types” of policies charge more than a traditional term or whole life insurance policy would.

#2. Disadvantage to Guaranteed Issue Life Insurance Policies.

Coverage Amount.  Guaranteed issue life insurance policies generally won’t provide more than $25,000 dollar in coverage.  So, if you’re looking to purchase life insurance in an effort to:

• Cover the cost of a mortgage,
• Replace lost wages,
• Or protect a spouse or child,

Chances are, $25,000 in coverage isn’t going to get the job done! Now, it is conceivable that you might be able to buy several different guaranteed-issue life insurance policies from several different insurance companies, which is perfectly acceptable. However, this is where the previous problem of “cost” can certainly set in.

#3.  Disadvantage to Guaranteed Issue Life Insurance Policies.

The Graded Death Benefit Clause.  Guaranteed issue life insurance policies will include a “clause” in them called a graded death benefit.  And… what this clause is designed to do is protect the insurance company from insuring someone who is really, really sick!

And what it states is…

That you the insured will need to stay alive from some “set period of time” prior to the insurance policy paying a death benefit in the event that you die from an “natural cause” of death. You see, because the insurance company hasn’t asked you any medical questions or required you to take a medical exam, they really don’t know a thing about you or your health.  So, it’s conceivable that someone might want to purchase one of these life insurance policies while on their “death bed”.

This is why…

Insurance companies use a Graded Death Benefit clause to protect themselves from this happening.  Now, because there are many different insurance companies out there, and because they’ll all have their own “unique” graded death benefit clauses, we don’t really want to go into specifics here in this article. However, we will tell you that when helping folks decide “which” guaranteed issue life insurance policy is going to be the “best,” there are three things we like to look at which should help one decide on which company is the “best” for them.

These three factors are:

• The reputation of the company,
• Graded death benefit wait time,
• And price.

Now, that last topic…

We want to touch upon is where a “medical condition” could prevent you from being able to qualify for a guaranteed issue life insurance policy.  You see, at the end of the day, all life insurance policies are essentially legal contracts where you, the insured, agree to pay a premium to the insurance company in exchange for them to guarantee that your beneficiaries will receive a “death benefit” in the event that you die while the policy is in place.

“Which is a good thing!”

And it’s why those of us who decide to purchase a life insurance policy want to own one.

But what happens…

If one of the participating parties isn’t of “sound mind” capable of entering into a legal contract such as a life insurance policy/contract?  Well when this happens, what we have is a whole separate issue and one that we here at InsuranceBrokersUSA like to hand off to the insurance companies directly to deal with.

You see…

Because Exelon is a medication used to help people suffering from mental cognition issues, we here at InsuranceBrokersUSA have found that the “best” way to help our clients is to provide them with who we feel currently offer the best guaranteed-issue life insurance policies and then provide them with this information so that they can contact these insurance companies directly.

Now, this is…

A bit different from how we usually handle our client’s applications because usually, we like to submit a client’s application so that we can simultaneously shop several companies at the same time however, when it comes to folks taking Aricept, we like to allow the insurance companies to handle the entire application so that if there is ever an issue later on about where an insured was “mentally” competent to enter into a legal contract only the insurance company will be involved.

Also…

For those looking for coverage for a loved one suffering from Alzheimer’s, it’s possible that you may be able to assist them in getting coverage, assuming you have power of attorney to do so. In either case, we simply just want to help point you in the right direction.  So, what are you waiting for?  Give us a call today and see what we can do for you!