In this article, we wanted to take a moment to answer some of the most common questions we get from folks applying for life insurance after being diagnosed as legally blind.

Questions that will be directly addressed will include:

• Can I qualify for life insurance after I’ve been diagnosed as legally blind?
• Why do life insurance companies care if I’ve been diagnosed as legally blind?
• What kind of information will the insurance companies ask me or be interested in?
• What rate (or price) can I qualify for?
• What can I do to help ensure that I get the “best life insurance” for me?

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

Can I qualify for life insurance after I’ve been diagnosed as legally blind?

Yes, individuals who have been diagnosed as legally blind can and often will qualify for a traditional term or whole life insurance policy. In fact, some folks may even be able to qualify for several of the Best No Medical Exam Life Insurance Policies available at a Preferred rate!

That said however, blind applicants can face some rather “unique” challenges when applying for a traditional term or whole life insurance that might not play as significant role in another “non-visually” challenged applicant.

Why do life insurance companies care if I’ve been diagnosed as legally blind?

There are three main reasons why most of the top-rated life insurance companies are going to “care” if an individual has been diagnosed as legally blind.

Reason #1.

Life insurance companies are going to want to know you whether or not your “blindness” is a symptom of some other kind of pre-existing medical condition such as:

• Glaucoma,
• Macular degeneration,
• Cataracts,
• Optic Neuritis,
• Tumors,
• Retinitis pigmentosa,
• Etc, etc…

Or whether or not it was something that you were born with or just an unfortunate side effect of aging.

Reason #2.

If you were “blinded” by some accident, most life insurance companies (if not all) are going to want to know “how” this happened so that they can be sure that this horrific accident that caused you to go blind isn’t likely to happen to you again!

Reason #3.

Going blind is a traumatic event and one that not everyone can easily adjust too. This is why, if you were not born blind, most (if not all) life insurance companies are going to want to make sure that you are successfully adjusting to your new reality, by not immediately approving your life insurance application until you have been considered “legally blind” for a minimum of one year.

Which is why…

Prior to being approved for a traditional term or whole life insurance policy, most life insurance companies (if not all) are going to want to ask you a series of medical questions before making any decision about your life insurance application.

What kind of information will the insurance companies ask me or be interested in?

• When were you officially diagnosed as “legally blind”?
• Do you know what caused you to go blind?
  • Congenital birth defect?
  • A symptom of some other illness?
  • Accident?
• Is there any chance you might regain your sight?
• Have you been diagnosed with any other pre-existing medical conditions?
• Are you currently working now?
• In the past 12 months, have you applied for or received any form of disability benefits?

Now…

We’ll be the first to admit that there are probably a million other questions that one might want to ask to fully understand “why” someone has been diagnosed as legally blind. Still, it’s important to remember, that here at IBUSA, we’re not medical professionals and we’re certainly not doctors.

And since…

We’re not trying to diagnose or treat any illness all we have to worry about is “how” a life insurance company is likely to “view” a life insurance application from a particular applicant. This is why we only need to know that answers to the questions listed above to get a “reasonable” understanding of what “kind” of life insurance policy you might be able to qualify for and what “rate” you might be given. Which brings us to our next topic, which is…

What rate (or price) can I qualify for?

Understanding what “rate” an individual will be able to qualify for after they have been determined “legally blind” can be a bit tricky. This is because, if having become “blind” is a horrible symptom of some other pre-existing medical condition, in most cases, that pre-existing medical condition will be the primary determinant guiding the “outcome” of your life insurance application!

In cases like these…

Without knowing “why” you have gone blind, we really won’t have any idea what kind of rate you might be able to qualify for.

Now, as for those…

Who have either gone “blind” due to some kind of accident or due to a “natural cause” related to aging, what we have found to be true (most of the time) is that an individual will be considered “eligible” for coverage once a minimum of one year has transpired. From there, one’s individual life insurance rate will usually be determined by how “well” they are adapting to their circumstances with the “best” cases being eligible for a Preferred Plus.

The only problem…

We’ll usually encounter at this point that often, once an individual has been diagnosed as legally blind, their work status has a tendency to change for obvious reasons. And unfortunately, one of the “non-health” related issues that can come into play when determining just how much life insurance an individual can qualify for is their current pay status.

As a result…

Some individuals may find it challenging to qualify for particularly large life insurance policies once they have been diagnosed as legally blind if this has affected their income levels, but it’s just one of the many things that our experts here at IBUSA are always mindful of.

This brings us to the last topic that we wanted to take a moment and discuss with you here today which is…

What can I do to help ensure that I get the “best life insurance” for me?

In our experience here at IBUSA, what we have found that usually, the folks who seem to find the “best” life insurance policy for them are those that:

• Take their time reviewing their options.
• Ask a lot of questions.

And seek out those life insurance agents who not only have experience working with individuals who have been diagnosed with a wide variety of pre-existing medical conditions but also have access to dozens of different life insurance companies so that when it comes time to helping a more “challenging” case, they don’t have to rely on a…

“One size fits all approach!”

The good news is that this is exactly what you’re going to find here at IBUSA !

Now, will we be able to help out everyone who has been previously diagnosed as Legally Blind?

No, probably not. But what we can tell you is that in addition to offering a wide variety of different term and whole life insurance policies, IBUSA has also worked very hard to establish relationships with many of the Best Final Expense Insurance Companies as well so that if someone isn’t able to qualify for a traditional life insurance policy, chances are there may be some other “type” of product that you CAN qualify for.

So, if you’re ready to see what options might be available to you, just give us a call!