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 with Diffuse Cerebral Sclerosis, Schilder’s Disease or Myelinoclastic diffuse sclerosis.

Questions that will be directly addressed will include:

• Can I qualify for life insurance after being diagnosed with Cerebral Sclerosis or Schlinder’s Disease?
• Why do life insurance companies care if I’ve been diagnosed with Cerebral Sclerosis or Schlinder’s Disease?
• What kind of information will the insurance companies ask me or be interested in?
• What options might be available to me?
• 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 being diagnosed with Cerebral Sclerosis of Schlinder’s Disease?

No, individuals who have been diagnosed with Cerebral Sclerosis or Schlinder’s Disease will not be able to qualify for a traditional term or whole life insurance policy.

For this reason, individuals who still wish to purchase a life insurance policy will need to look towards an “alternative” product such as a guaranteed issue life insurance policy or an accidental death policy.

Why do life insurance companies care if I’ve been diagnosed with Cerebral Sclerosis or Schlinder’s Disease?

The main reason why most (if not all) of the top-rated life insurance companies are going to “care” if an individual has been diagnosed with Schlinder’s Disease is that it is believed that Schlinder’s Disease is a rare “type” of multiple sclerosis which in some cases can become fatal.

That said however…

We should not that others may only experience a chronic and progressive disease that can, on occasion, actually improve upon itself to the point where some may even experience total signs of remission!

The only problem is…

Form a life insurance perspective is that because it is impossible to know who will and won’t suffer from the more “severe” version of this disease. This is why insurance companies most (if not all) insurance companies choose to “assume” the worst for everyone and simply deny all “traditional” life insurance applications from those diagnosed with Cerebral Sclerosis.

Cerebral Sclerosis Defined.

Cerebral Sclerosis, Schlinder’s Disease, or Myelinoclastic diffuse sclerosis is a rare demyelination disorder that directly affects the central nervous system and is widely believed to be “type” of multiple sclerosis.

Common symptoms of Diffuse Sclerosis may include:

• Hemiparesis, or weakness on one side of one’s body.
• Slow movements,
• Seizures,
• Speech difficulties (dysarthria),
• Visual impairment,
• Hearing impairment,
• Memory problems,
• Difficulty concentrating,
• Mood swings and/or personality changes,
• Etc…

Now…

Before anyone gets too upset or beings complaining about the simplicity of our definitions that we’re using here, it’s important to understand that we here at IBUSA aren’t medical experts of doctors. All we are is a bunch of life insurance agents who just happen to be good at helping folks with pre-existing medical conditions like Cerebral Sclerosis find the coverage that they’re looking for.

Which means that…

Because we’re not going to be the one “diagnosing” your condition, all we need to do is have a “basic” understanding of what your condition is and know how it will affect the outcome of your life insurance application.

The good news is that despite how simply our definitions of this disease may be, this is something that we actually have down pat!

Which is why…

When we are approached by an individual who has been diagnosed with Cerebral Sclerosis, we’re going to know right away what “kinds” of insurance products you may or may not be able to qualify for and what “kinds” of questions we’re going to need to ask you.

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

Now because individuals who have been diagnosed with Cerebral Sclerosis aren’t going to be able to qualify for a traditional term or whole life insurance policy, there aren’t a whole lot of questions a life insurance underwriter is going to need to ask you once they have determined that you have been diagnosed with this disease.

After all…

Understanding “why” you have Cerebral Sclerosis or how “serious” your condition isn’t going to change all that much on their end. For this reason, what you’ll likely going to find when looking to purchase a life insurance policy after having been diagnosed with Cerebral Sclerosis that a lot of life insurance companies and/or agents aren’t going to be all that helpful.

This is mainly because…

Many independent life insurance agents or agents working for the larger nation-wide brokerages aren’t going to have a ton of options for you, or they simply don’t have access to many of the “alternative” products that won’t require you to either take a medical exam or answer any health-related question.

Fortunately…

Here at IBUSA, we do offer a wide variety of these “types” of products, which is why once we learn that you have been diagnosed with Cerebral Sclerosis, we’re going to want to ask you these three simple questions…

#1. Are you a US Citizen?

#2. Are you between the ages of 40 and 85?

#3. What state do you live in?

This is because…

There is a chance that you might be able to qualify for a guaranteed issue life insurance policy or purchase an accidental death policy.

What options might be available to me?

Now before anyone gets too excited about the fact that there may be a few options available to you even though you’ve been diagnosed with Cerebral Sclerosis, we want to make it perfectly clear that there are some very real disadvantages to some of the products that we’re about to discuss.

Which is why…

After reading what we’re about to discuss we would invite you to then give us a call or visit one of our other articles that will go into greater detail about these “alternative products” so that you’ll know exactly what you are “getting” should you decide to ultimately purchase one of these “types” of products.

Accidental Death and Guaranteed Issue Life Insurance Policies Defined

Accidental Death Policies

First, we want to start off by first describing what an Accidental Death Policy is because of the two options that might be available to you; these are the easier ones to understand and, ironically, the ones that people most often get confused about!

So…

We’re going to attempt to describe what these “kinds” of products are in the worst and least flattering way so that that there shouldn’t be any kind of “misunderstanding” about what these types of policies will and won’t cover.

For starters…

Accidental death policies are NOT TRUE LIFE INSURANCE POLICIES. This is why you don’t need to be a licensed life insurance agent to sell them and why they aren’t going to provide you with any coverage if you die of a “natural” cause of death.

And by…

Natural cause of death we’re referring to an “illness-based” death like you would experience as a result of:

• Heart disease,
• Cancer,
• Diabetes,

Or from some kind of complication that one might experience as a result of suffering from Cerebral Sclerosis.

These types of products…

Are only going to provide a death benefit to your family if you die from an accidental cause or any cause of death that isn’t “illness based.” Examples that would typically qualify would include:

• A motor vehicle accident,
• A slip and fall accident
• A natural disaster,
• Victim of crime,
• Etc…

Which is nice…

But this isn’t what someone is usually looking for after they have been diagnosed with Cerebral Sclerosis. On the plus side, these “types” of products are generally pretty affordable. They will also allow someone to purchase a large amount of ACCIDENT insurance for a relatively small amount of money.

Guaranteed Issue Life Insurance

Guaranteed issue life insurance policies, on the other hand, ARE TRUE LIFE INSURANCE PRODUCTS. This means that you do need to be a licensed life insurance agent to sell them, and “ultimately”, they will provide an individual true-life insurance coverage.

But there’s a catch…

And in our experience here at IBUSA we’ve found that the best way to discuss these types of life insurance policies is by analyzing the three major disadvantages that these “types” of life insurance policies have aside from the fact that you generally have to be over the age of 50 and live in a state where these “types” of life insurance policies are available.

So, let’s dive right in…

Problem #1.

Guaranteed issue life insurance policies will only provide a limited amount of life insurance coverage and will usually “cap out” right around 25,000 dollars in coverage. This means that if you need more than 25,000 dollars in coverage a guaranteed issue life insurance policy might not be right for you!

(Yes, individuals can purchase several different guaranteed issue life insurance policies from several different companies, but as we will now discuss, this can get really expensive).

Problem #2.

Dollar for dollar, guaranteed issue life insurance policies tend to cost more than other “traditional” life insurance policy options. Now we don’t want to imply that these “types” of life insurance policies are going to cost a fortune, it’s just that if you can qualify for another “kind” of life insurance policy, that coverage will usually cost less dollar for dollar than a guaranteed issue life insurance policy will.

Problem #3.

Guaranteed issue life insurance policies contain a clause known as a Graded Death Benefit.

Graded Death Benefit Defined:

Graded Death Benefits are “clauses” written into most (if not all) guaranteed issue life insurance policies which state that a guaranteed issue life insurance policy won’t begin to cover an individual from “natural causes” of death until a certain waiting period has elapsed. This “waiting period” will usually last 2 to 3 years and is designed to make sure that someone who knows that they are very close to death from being able to purchase these “types” of life insurance policies.

And while…

This may seem incredibly unfair; it’s important to remember that a guaranteed issue life insurance policy isn’t going to require you to take a medical exam or answer any health-related questions. So, at the end of the day, it’s only this “clause” that’s going to allow the insurance companies to protect themselves from unnecessary risk.

The good news is…

That while you may have to wait 2 to 3 years for one a Guaranteed Issue Life Insurance policy to provide you true life insurance protection, these “types” of life insurance policies will provide immediate coverage for any “accidental causes” of death and may also provide some kind of “return of premium” to the beneficiaries of the insured if they end up dying from natural causes before their Graded Death Benefit expiring.

So, have we confused you yet?

If so, don’t fret we the purpose of this article wasn’t to try to make you an insurance expert, it was just to give you an idea of what questions you’ll want to pursue prior to making any decisions. 

Which brings us to the last topic that we wanted to discuss here in this article, 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 works best for folks who have been diagnosed with a pre-existing medical condition where the “severity” of the condition is often “subjective” is for the applicant to make sure that they first find a true-life insurance professional who will work as an advocate for you.

Such an agent…

Will not only help guide you through the application process but also be perfectly “frank” with you about what options may or may not be possible for you.

From there…

You’ll also want to make sure that the very same agent you have chosen has access to dozens of different life insurance companies because after all, it really doesn’t matter how “great” of a life insurance agent you might have if they don’t have access to the “best” life insurance policy for you! Now, does it?

Lastly…

You’ll want to make sure that you’re completely honest with your life insurance agent before applying for coverage. By doing so, you will be helping him or her narrow down what options might be the “best”.

So, what are you waiting for? Give us a call today and see what we can do for you!