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 they have been prescribed Arimidex or its generic form Anastrozole to treat breast cancer.

Questions that will be directly addressed will include:

• Can I qualify for life insurance after I’ve been prescribed Arimidex?
• Why do life insurance companies care if I’ve been prescribed Arimidex?
• 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 prescribed Arimidex?

Having been prescribed Arimidex at one time in your life will NOT automatically prevent you from being able to qualify for a traditional term or whole life insurance.

It will, however…

Create a “timestamp” in which a life insurance underwriter may choose to use, as a way of determining when you received treatment and when was the “official” last date of treatment upon which you were determined to be or pronounced “cancer-free”.

You see…

While it is true that breast cancer survivors can become “insurable” once they are pronounced cancer-free, they won’t automatically become insurable until they have remained cancer-free for a set period of time. Which will usually be determined by what stage your breast cancer was caught and treated at.

Why do life insurance companies care if I’ve been prescribed Arimidex?

What you’re generally going to find is that most of the best life insurance companies are going to care about the fact that an individual has been prescribed Arimidex because Arimidex is a prescription medication that is only used to treat those who have been diagnosed with breast cancer.

So…

By having been prescribed Arimidex at one time in your life, life insurance underwriters can use this information to help them create a “road map” for how they should proceed with the underwriting of your life insurance application.

Because…

It’s important to remember that just because you have been diagnosed with breast cancer in the past, doesn’t mean that you won’t be able to qualify for a traditional term or whole life insurance policy someday in the future.

It just means that…

Before getting approved for coverage, an insurance underwriter is going to need to ask you a series of medical questions so that they can get a better idea of how “serious” your condition was. And how long you will need to remain cancer-free before they consider you an “acceptable risk” to the insurance company.

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

Typical questions a life insurance underwriter will likely ask you to determine if you’ll be immediately eligible for a traditional term or whole life insurance policy will likely include:

• When were you diagnosed with breast cancer?
• Where you diagnosed with an “exact” type of breast cancer?
• What stage where you diagnosed at?
• Did your doctor also “grade” your cancer as well?
• Aside from just being prescribed Arimidex, were you also prescribed any other medications?
• Did you undergo any other treatment procedures?
• When was your last date of treatment?
• How long have you remained cancer-free?
• Are you currently working now?
• In the past 12 months, have you applied for or received any form of disability benefits?

What rate (or price) can I qualify for?

When it comes time to determine what kind of “rate” you may or may not be eligible for, the two main determinant factors that are going to come into play is first, what stage of cancer were you diagnosed with? And second, how long ago were you pronounced cancer-free?

With this in mind…

Here’s an outline of how most life insurance underwriters will initially approach your life insurance application:

• STAGE 0. Applicants will be considered potentially eligible for a Standard rate once a minimum of two years is reached from the last treatment date.
• STAGE 1. Applicants at Stage 1 will also be considered eligible for a Standard rate once a minimum of two years is reached from the last treatment date.
• STAGE 2. With stage 2 applicants, the waiting period will be determined by the number of affected nodes that were discovered. For patients with 0 positive nodes, the waiting period from the last treatment date will be a minimum of 5 years. For those with 1 to 3 positive notes, they will need to wait a minimum of 10 years with most life insurance companies. Additionally, these applicants will usually not be eligible for a Standard rate and usually only qualify for a Table B rate at best.
• STAGE 3 and 4. Cancer survivors who were originally diagnosed with either stage 3 or stage 4 breast cancer will need to wait a minimum of 15 years before most traditional life insurance carriers will be willing to insure them.

Which leaves us with…

Those who have either just been recently diagnosed with breast cancer or just gone into remission. Two completely different scenarios will prevent one from qualifying for a traditional term or whole life insurance policy.

But…

Don’t let that get you down! When it comes to beating cancer, were here at IBUSA believe that attitude is everything, so who cares if a life insurance company isn’t going to be willing to provide you coverage for the next couple of years!

“It is what it is, and there’s not much one can do to change that!”

That said, however…

If you find yourself stuck in a situation where you simply can’t qualify for a “traditional” term or whole life insurance policy, there is a chance that you may be able to qualify for an alternative product such as a guaranteed issue life insurance policy or an accidental death policy which you may want to try to use a “bridge policy” that you can own until which time you will become eligible for a traditional term or whole life insurance policy.

This brings us to the last topic that we wanted to discuss 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 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!