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?
• What can I do to help ensure that 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 which is going to make it pretty much impossible for you to be able to qualify for a traditional term or whole life insurance policy. 

Which 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 very serious 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,

And Organ-specific Amyloidosis (including heart kidney, and gastrointestinal) each of these conditions will share many of the same characteristics that make life insurance companies unwilling to insure them.

This is why…

If you have been diagnosed with Amyloid Disease, what you’re going to need to do is seek out a product that won’t require you to have to be able to “medically qualify” for coverage. Fortunately, there are a few products out there that meet this requirement; however each of them is going to have their own separate “issues,” which might just 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 in the event that 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 in the event that 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 all that popular for folks looking to purchase a TRUE life insurance policy. 

But… 

In all fairness, Accidental Death Policies do 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 types of policies.

After all…

At the end of the day, 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 who have been diagnosed with Amyloid disease will be a Guaranteed Issue Life Insurance Policy. 

Now, these types of life insurance policies are TRUE life insurance policies. The only problem is that they will contain a few restrictions that won’t be found within your typical term or whole life insurance policies.

You see… 

These “types” of life insurance policies aren’t going to provide immediate coverage against “natural causes” of death. Instead, these types of life insurance policies will only begin to provide an insured with coverage for natural causes of death after they have lived 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 referred to as a GRADED DEATH BENEFIT.

During this “waiting period”…

Your guaranteed issue life insurance policy will only provide coverage for accidental causes of death. And while this might not be the answer that 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 in the event that you die from a natural cause of death prior to 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 is because when you apply for one of these “types” of life insurance policies, you will not be asked any medical questions. In fact, as long as you live in a state where one of these life insurance policies are offered, and you are a US citizen over the age of 50 (sometimes 45), you should be eligible.

Which means that…

It’s possible 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 as a way of ensuring 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 be very helpful to 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 types of life insurance policies. Additionally, these life insurance policies are going to 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…

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 so, if you ready to find out what we can do for you, just give us a call and let us see what we can do for you!