Life Insurance with Pancreatic Cancer

What is Pancreatic Cancer?
Now since we’re not medical professionals and we’re certainly not doctors, we’ll keep our definition of pancreatic cancer really basic.  So pancreatic cancer is cancer of the pancreas!

But what is the pancreas, anyway?

The pancreas is actually a small yet very important gland in the digestive tract that helps the body digest food by releasing digestive enzymes which help break down your food.

The pancreas also…

Plays an important role in releasing important hormones such as insulin into the body which helps your body turn blood sugar into energy, which is then stored in your bodies muscles, fat cells and liver for later use.

The problem is…

Pancreatic cancer is a difficult cancer to cure completely.  And while the survival rates have been improving year after year, for the life insurance industry, all they really look at is long term statistical data which when viewed from a “macro” lens isn’t good.

This is why…

You’re going to find it extremely difficult to qualify for a traditional term life insurance or whole life insurance policy after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.  And while we never like to say never or impossible, in our experiences here at TermLife2Go, what we’ve found is that most (if not all) life insurance companies are simply going to deny any application for a traditional term life insurance or whole life insurance policy immediately upon learning that the applicant has been previously diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

Types of Life Insurance to Get with Pancreatic Cancer

But before we move on to what “types” of life insurance policies might be available to those who have been previously diagnosed with pancreatic cancer can qualify for, let’s just take a moment and go over a few definitions.

Traditional Term Life Insurance.

Traditional term life insurance is life insurance that covers you for a certain amount of time. These types of life insurance policies will require that you take a medical exam and answer a host of questions focusing on both health and life style risk factors.

These types of life insurance policies are great when folks are looking to provide a lot of coverage (over $25,000) for the least amount of cost.  The problem is that because you will need to be able to “medically” qualify, these types of life insurance policies simply won’t be available to anyone who has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in the past.

Whole Life Insurance.

Traditional whole life insurance, is life insurance that will cover you for, as the name suggests, your whole life. These are great life insurance policies for folks who want to make sure that they always have life insurance in place regardless of how old they get.

Traditional whole life insurance policies will also require that applicants take a medical exam and will also require that an individual answer a host of medical and lifestyle questions prior to being approved for coverage.  These “types” of life insurance policies will also “typically” deny coverage to anyone who has been previously diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

Now like we said before…

We really try to avoid using words like “always” or “never” because who knows?  Things change within the life insurance industry and insurance companies are always making adjustments to their underwriting guidelines.  So, in “theory”, there may be an insurance company out there that will be willing to offer traditional term or whole life insurance coverage to someone who has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

And…

We’re more than happy to present your application to some of the more lenient insurance companies out there to see what they have to say.  But one thing that we will say for sure is that if you’re hoping to qualify for a traditional term or whole life insurance policy after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, you’re chances of being approved will increase greatly if:

• Your cancer was diagnosed early on, Stage 0 or 1.
• And you’ve been cancer free for a minimum of 5 years.

Which means…

That if you’re currently treating your cancer now or you’ve just recently gone into remission (Congratulations!), you definitely going to want to consider a guaranteed issue life insurance policy because, you’re simply not going to be eligible for any other “Type” of coverage right now.

Guaranteed Issue Life Insurance.

Guaranteed issue life insurance policies are life insurance policies that will not use ones current or prior health as a determinant in who can qualify for coverage.   In fact, guaranteed issue life insurance policies are really only going to care about 3 things when it comes to getting approved which are:

• Are you a US citizen?
• Do you live in a state where guaranteed issue life insurance policies are offered?
• And do you meet the age requirements?

If so, you will be eligible for a guaranteed issue life insurance policy.  You’ll even qualify if you’re:

• In palliative care
• In a hospice
• Undergoing radiation
• Undergoing chemotherapy
• Having cancer-related surgery
• Cured of cancer but only recently

Now you may be wondering…

“How is this possible?”

and

“There must be a catch?”

Which a perfectly normal questions to ask…

So, let’s take a moment and discuss why guaranteed issue life insurance policies can take the risk of insuring someone that could “potentially” be really sick.

First...

Guaranteed issue life insurance policies are not going to offer a “ton” of coverage.  In fact, most guaranteed issue life insurance policies will only provide up to about $25,000 dollars in coverage which will automatically limit an insurance company’s exposure to risk.

Second…

Guaranteed issue life insurance policies will “tend” to be more expensive “dollar for dollar” compared to other more traditional “types” of life insurance policies.  Meaning that the amount of money that you will need to spend to purchase a guaranteed issue life insurance policy would buy you a lot more coverage if you were able to qualify for a traditional term or whole life insurance policy.

Now we don’t want to leave you with the impression that all guaranteed issue life insurance policies are super expensive, because they’re not, it’s just that for the amount that you’ll be expected to pay, “sometimes” you don’t get a ton of coverage (we’re just be honest)!

Lastly…

(And here is where it makes sense for insurance companies to be able to offer guaranteed issue life insurance policies), guaranteed issue life insurance will contain what is called a Graded Death Benefit.

Graded Death Benefit.

A graded death benefit is a clause written into all guaranteed issue life insurance policy which will state that in order for your guaranteed issue life insurance policy to pay a death benefit for dying of “natural causes” you must first “outlive” the graded death benefit period.

Or in other words…

When you first purchase your guaranteed issue life insurance policy, it will not provide coverage for you if you happen to die from a “natural” cause of death like:

• Heart disease,
• Stroke,
• Diabetes,
• OR PANCREATIC CANCER.

Now guaranteed issue life insurance policies will immediately cover you for “accidental” causes of death, such as a:

• Slip and fall accidents,
• Motor vehicle accidents,
• Natural disaster,
• Victim of crime,
• Etc, etc...

Now you may be thinking…

What a rip off!  But remember, because guaranteed issue life insurance policies aren’t going to ask you any questions about your current health status, it’s “theoretically” possible to purchase a guaranteed issue life insurance policy from hospice!  Which is why the insurance companies need to use a graded death benefit to protect themselves from taking on too much risk.

Now we’ll…

Be the first to admit, guaranteed issue life insurance policies aren’t necessarily the greatest life insurance policies in the world but when you simply aren’t able to qualify for any other “type” of life insurance policy, having an option like a guaranteed issue life insurance policy can sometimes be huge relief!

Finding the BEST Life insurance with Pancreatic Cancer.

A very important thing to remember when you apply for life insurance with or after pancreatic cancer is that every life insurance company is different. Whether you are getting whole life insurance or guaranteed life insurance, you should definitely seek out expert advice before you apply.

Why is expert advice so important?

That’s easy, some life insurance companies are more favorable for certain situations than others. There are life insurance companies that are more “lenient” in their underwriting practices for cancer patients than others.

Now if this is try…

“Why not just tell which life insurance companies are good for cancer patients in this article?”

We would love to do that…if we could. But pancreatic cancer can have very different scenarios. Due to this, the right life insurance company and policy for one pancreatic cancer patient may not be the right one for another. That’s why we don’t want to misinform anyone by saying “People with pancreatic cancer should use this life insurance company” – because it won’t always be right.

We want to offer you personalized life insurance advice.

To ensure that you really do get the right life insurance for your circumstance, we’d rather speak to you on the phone and get to know more about the whole picture. Once we do, we are more than happy to recommend you the best life insurance for you!

So, what are you waiting for?  Give us a call today or visit our Life Insurance Quotes page and see what we can do for you!