In this article, we wanted to take a moment and answer some of the most common questions we get from folks applying for life insurance after they have been prescribed Copaxone (or its generic form Glatiramer Acetate) to reduce the number of “relapses” an individual may experience treating their Multiple Sclerosis.

Questions that will be directly addressed will include:

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

Yes, individuals who have been prescribed Copaxone in the past can and sometimes will be able to qualify for a traditional term or whole life insurance policy. That said, however, because Copaxone is a prescription medication that is used to treat those who have been diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis primarily, it should go without saying that, at times, these life insurance applications can begin to get quite complicated!

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

Life insurance companies “care” if you’ve been prescribed Copaxone because it is a prescription medication that is solely used to treat a serious pre-existing medical condition, which will certainly play a role in the outcome of your life insurance application.  It can also be used as a “marker” to determine when certain treatments began and how well they worked, as well as provide a glimpse into how well your disease is being managed. 

Lastly…

It will also provide an insurance underwriter with one additional piece of information they can use to help them know what questions they will need to ask before making any definitive decisions about their life insurance application.

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

• When were you first diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS)?
• Who diagnosed your MS? A general practitioner or a specialist?
• When were you first prescribed Copaxone?
• Is Copaxone the only medication that you’re using to treat your multiple sclerosis?
• In the past 12 months, have any of our MS medications changed in any way?
• How well are your medications working to slow down the progression of your disease?
• What symptoms are you currently experiencing now as a direct result of your MS?
  • What changes (if any) have occurred over the past 12 months?
• How many (if any) episodes or flareups have you experienced in the past 12 months?
• 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?

While it is true that individuals who have been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis can and often will be able to qualify for a traditional term or whole life insurance policy, what is also true is that they will ALL be considered a “higher-risk” applicant as well. This means that if an individual diagnosed with MS can qualify for coverage, it will be a rate commonly referred to as a “Table Rate.”

Table Rate defined.

Table rates are insurance rates that are typically reserved for individuals who are deemed a “higher risk” than a typical applicant. Now sometimes these ratings are “earned” due to some pre-existing medical condition (like multiple sclerosis) while other times, they may be “earned” by an applicant due to some “lifestyle” choice such as driving too fast, participating in certain hobbies or working in a dangerous profession.

Now regardless of why…

An individual may qualify for a Table Rating; it’s important to understand what they are and what “kind” of table rating is better than another. You see, when applying for a traditional life insurance policy, what you’re going to find is that there are about 16 different rate classes one can potentially qualify for. The best of which would be a Preferred Plus, then a Preferred. Followed by a Standard Plus, then a Standard rate.

Then after…

The Standard rates, we then begin to classify individuals as “table rates”. In total, there are 10 table rates, starting with Table A (the best and most affordable table rate) and increasing by alphabetical order all the way to Table J, which would be considered the “worst” or most expensive table rating.

With this in mind, we can now tell you that in our experience, individuals who have been diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis and have only suffered from one or two episodes in the past year can and often will be able to qualify for Table rates ranging from Table A to C.

For those who have…

Suffered from more than two or three episodes but “seem” stable now can often qualify for Table rates ranging from D to J. Still, we should state for the record that these can oftentimes be tough applications to place because of the inherits “subjectivity” these cases leave themselves open to by an individual underwriter.

This is why…

We here at IBUSA will oftentimes have 2 or 3 different life insurance companies review an individual’s application prior to us actually submitting it for approval so that we can get a general idea about how an insurance company will view your case before we make anything “official”. 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 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 who can help guide you through the application process and 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 prior to applying for coverage. By doing so, you will be helping him or her narrow down what options might be the “best”.

Now, will we be able to help out everyone who has been prescribed Copaxone?

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. This way, 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!