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 Amyloid Disease or Amyloidosis.

Questions that will be addressed within this article will include:

• Can I qualify for life insurance if I have been diagnosed with Amyloid Disease?
• Why do life insurance companies care if I have been diagnosed with Amyloid Disease?
• What “kind” of life insurance policy can I qualify for?
• How can I help ensure I get the “best life insurance” for me?

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

Can I qualify for life insurance if I have been diagnosed with Amyloid Disease?

Unfortunately, Amyloid Disease is one of those “kinds” of pre-existing medical conditions that is going to make it pretty much impossible for you to be able to qualify for a traditional term or whole life insurance policy. 

This means that if you still want to be able to purchase some “kind” of insurance, you will need to consider an “alternative” product such as a guaranteed issue life insurance policy (AKA Burial Life Insurance Policy) or an accidental death policy.

Why do life insurance companies care if I have been diagnosed with Amyloid Disease?

Life insurance companies are going to “care” if an individual has been diagnosed with Amyloid disease because it is a severe pre-existing medical condition that can ultimately cause one to suffer from life-threatening organ failure!

And while there are indeed many different types of “amyloid diseases,” including:

• AL Amyloidosis,
• AA Amyloidosis,
• Dialysis-related Amyloidosis (DRA),
• Familial, or Hereditary, Amyloidosis,

Organ-specific Amyloidosis (including heart, kidney, and gastrointestinal): Each condition shares many characteristics that make life insurance companies unwilling to insure it.

This is why…

If you have been diagnosed with Amyloid Disease, you need to seek out a product that doesn’t require you to be able to “medically qualify” for coverage. Fortunately, a few products out there meet this requirement; however, each has its issues, which might be a deal-breaker for you!

What “kind” of life insurance policies can I qualify for?

There are two different types of products that one will be able to qualify for after they have been diagnosed with Amyloidosis. The first is not a TRUE life insurance policy because it will never actually provide a death benefit to your beneficiaries if you die from a “natural cause.”

These types…

Of products (notice that we don’t say life insurance policies) are called accidental death policies and will only provide a death benefit to someone’s beneficiary if they die from an “accidental cause” such as a:

• Motor vehicle accident,
• A slip and fall accident,
• Victim of crime,
• Natural disaster,
• Etc, etc…

This means that they won’t provide coverage if you die from organ failure, which would be the most likely concern of someone who has been previously diagnosed with Amyloid disease. This is why these “types” of policies aren’t very popular among people who want to purchase a true life insurance policy. 

But… 

In all fairness, Accidental Death Policies provide a significant amount of accidental death coverage at an affordable price, which is why we here at IBUSA believe that just about everyone should at least “consider” purchasing one of these policies. After all one never knows how they are going to die, even if they have been diagnosed with a terminal illness.

Another option…

That may also be available to some folks diagnosed with Amyloid disease who will have a Guaranteed Issue Life Insurance Policy.  These types of life insurance policies are true life insurance policies. The only problem is that they will contain restrictions not within your typical term or whole life insurance policies.

You see… 

These “types” of life insurance policies don’t provide immediate coverage against “natural causes” of death. Instead, they will only begin to provide coverage for natural causes of death after insured life beyond a certain waiting period (which will be determined by the insurance company you choose and usually lasts 2 or 3 years). This “waiting period” is commonly called a GRADED DEATH BENEFIT.

During this “waiting period”…

Your guaranteed issue life insurance policy will only cover accidental causes of death. While this might not be the answer you’re looking for, one nice thing about these “types” of life insurance policies is that they will typically return all monies paid to an insurance company to your beneficiary if you die from a natural cause of death before the GRADED DEATH BENEFIT expiring.

Now, at this point…

You may be saying to yourself…

“This is a total rip-off! Why should I have to wait 2 or 3 years before my guaranteed issue life insurance policy covers me for natural causes of death?

The reason why…

Guaranteed-issue life insurance policies contain a graded death benefit because when you apply for one of these “types” of life insurance policies, you will not be asked any medical questions. You should be eligible as long as you live in a state where one of these life insurance policies is offered and you are a US citizen over 50 (sometimes 45).

This means that someone who is very seriously ill might decide to purchase one of these types of life insurance policies just days before they die from some natural disease or illness. In cases like these, the insurance companies would have no way of protecting themselves from such a financial loss, which is why they use a Graded Death Benefit to ensure that folks don’t try to purchase these types of life insurance policies at the last moment.

Now we should note, however…

While these life insurance policies can benefit those who can’t qualify for any other “type” of life insurance coverage, they tend to be a bit “pricey” dollar for dollar compared to other life insurance policies. Additionally, these policies will have relatively small coverage amounts, typically maxing out around 25,000 dollars in coverage, which may not make it worth it to some individuals.

This brings us to the last topic that we wanted to take a moment and discuss, which is…

How can I help ensure I get the “best life insurance” for me?

In our experience here at IBUSA, we have found that usually, the folks who seem to see 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 help a more “challenging” case, they don’t have to rely on a…

“One size fits all approach!”

The good news is that this is precisely what you’ll find here at IBUSA, so if you are ready to find out what we can do for you, call and let us see what we can do for you!