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 Liver Cancer.

Questions that will be addressed will include:

• Can I qualify for life insurance if I have been diagnosed with Liver Cancer?
• Why do life insurance companies care if I’ve been diagnosed with Liver Cancer?
• 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’s dive right in!

Can I qualify for life insurance if I have been diagnosed with Liver Cancer?

Yes, some individuals who have been diagnosed with Liver Cancer will be able to qualify for a traditional life insurance policy.  The only problem is that because of the “seriousness” of this disease, most (if not all) life insurance companies are going to be unwilling to insure anyone who is currently treating their liver cancer. And most won’t even consider someone “potentially” eligible for coverage until they have been cancer-free for a minimum of two years (and sometimes not even then!).

Why do life insurance companies care if I’ve been diagnosed with Liver Cancer?

Pretty much any time an individual has been diagnosed with a pre-existing medical condition, it’s safe to say that most life insurance companies are going to want to learn a little bit more about it before making any decisions about your life insurance application.

Now…

When the pre-existing medical condition in question happens to be Liver Cancer, well, you can bet that that is going to pique an insurance underwriter’s interest. After all, Liver Cancer does account for over 27,000 deaths each and every year.  

The good news is…

That when diagnosed early, Liver Cancer is a very treatable disease, the only problem is, that Liver Cancer is often not a condition that is diagnosed until an individual begins to suffer from some pretty significant symptoms. Which often only appears as one’s cancer has spread from stage 1 to later stages.

This is why…

Most life insurance companies are going to want to ask you a series of questions so that they can gain a better understanding of just how “serious” your Liver Cancer is (or was).

This way…

They can understand what “kind” of risk you may pose to them should they decide to approve your life insurance application.

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

Common questions you’ll likely be asked about your Liver Cancer may include:

• When were you first diagnosed with Liver Cancer?
• Who diagnosed your Liver Cancer? A general practitioner or an oncologist?
• What led you’re your diagnosis? Were you experiencing any symptoms of your disease?
• What stage of Liver Cancer were you diagnosed with?
  • Stage 1: Individual only shows signs of a single tumor that is fully contained within the liver and less than 2 cm in size.
  • Stage 2: Individuals suffering from Stage 2 Liver Cancer may now have a single tumor that has grown beyond 2 cm and grown into the liver’s blood vessels, or their primary tumor has grown larger than 5 cm.
  • Stage 3: Will be characterized by multiple tumors with at least one exceeding 5 cm in size.  Stage 3 cancers will still be contained within the liver itself and will not have metastasized to other parts of the body.
  • Stage 4: Multiple tumors of various sizes will be present with one key difference: these tumors have spread to other parts of the body.

• Are you still treating your Liver Cancer? If not, when was your last date of treatment?
• How did you treat your Liver Cancer?
  • Chemotherapy?
  • Surgery?
  • Transplant recipient?
  • Etc…
• Have you been diagnosed with any other pre-existing medical conditions?
• Do you suffer from a history of drug or alcohol abuse?
• Are you currently working now?
• In the past 12 months, have you applied for any disability benefits?

With this information in hand, we’ll now have a much better idea about what “type” of life insurance policy you may or may not be able to qualify for and what kind of “rate” you might qualify for as well.

What rate (or price) can I qualify for?

As one can see, many factors can come into play when determining who will and won’t be able to qualify for a traditional life insurance policy.  For this reason, it’s almost impossible to know for sure what kind of policy or rate you might qualify for without first speaking with you directly.

That said however…

There are a few “assumptions” that we can make about those who have been diagnosed with Liver Cancer that will generally hold true, which we now want to go over so that you may have a better idea of what kind of rate you “might” be able to qualify for.

For example…

If you’re currently treating your cancer or you received a Liver Transplant as part of your treatment program to cure your Liver Cancer, it’s pretty safe to say that you will not be able to qualify for a traditional term or whole life insurance policy.

Now…

Individuals who have received a Liver Transplant to treat their Liver Cancer will ALWAYS be considered ineligible for traditional life insurance simply because any Liver Transplant recipient will be considered ineligible for coverage regardless of “why” they need to receive their transplant.

As for those…

Who are currently treating their Liver Cancer, it’s possible that once they become “cancer-free” the may be able to qualify for traditional coverage after they have remained in remission for a minimum of 2 years if they were originally diagnosed with Stage 1 Liver Cancer, or they may have to wait 7 to 10 years if they were diagnosed with Stage 2 Cancer.

Individuals diagnosed…

With Stage 3 or 4 Liver Cancer probably won’t be able to ever qualify for a traditional life insurance policy simply because most life insurance companies feel that these individuals pose too serious of a risk to insure.  

In cases like these…

If a client still wishes to purchase a life insurance policy, what we will generally recommend that they do is to take a look at some of the “alternative” products that are available that will not discriminate against them because of their previous Liver Cancer diagnosis. The most popular options being an Accidental Death Policy and/or a Final Expense Insurance Policy.

Which brings us to the last topic that we wanted to take a moment and discuss with you here today, which is…

What can I do to help ensure that I get the “best life insurance” for me?

In our experiences here at IBUSA, we’ve found that usually, the “best” approach in helping someone find the “best” life insurance policy for them is to first:

• Fully understand what an individual is trying to achieve by purchasing their life insurance policy.
  • Are you looking to:
    • Cover the cost of a mortgage?
    • Replace lost wages?
    • Protect a child or spouse?
    • Or just cover one’s final expenses?
• Then provide one with plenty of options to choose from so that you’re not limited to just one or two different options.

This is why…

We here at IBUSA choose to work with so many different life insurance companies so that when it comes time to help you decide “which” life insurance company is going to be the best for you, we don’t have to apply a…

“One Size Fits All”

Approach. Instead, we can make dozens of different life insurance companies compete for your business.

So, what are you waiting for? Give us a call today and experience the IBUSA difference.