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Life Insurance for those with Congestive Heart Failure

Researcher & Writer
August 01, 2017

Now when you really think about it, it shouldn’t come as a big surprise to learn that if you been diagnosed with congestive heart failure, you’re not going to be eligible for most types of life insurance policies with this particular pre-existing condition.

In fact, you’re basically not going to be eligible for any life insurance policies which would require you to be able to “medically” qualify.

That being said however because, congestive heart failure is a “symptom” that can be caused by a wide variety of health conditions, some of which, if corrected can actually resolve themselves to the point where one may no longer be considered suffering from congestive heart failure, it’s important to fully understand “why” someone is suffering from congestive heart failure before we make any assumptions about what “type” of life insurance policy he or she may be eligible for.

About congestive heart failure

Congestive heart failure, also known as heart failure or cardiac failure, is defined as a medical condition where the heart muscle isn’t capable of pumping blood as effectively as it should.

Cardiac failure is typically the end result of some other type of heart condition which, over time, can weaken or “stiffened” the heart to the point where it can no longer work properly.

Medical conditions that can cause ones’ heart to fail can include:

  • Coronary artery disease (atherosclerosis).
  • High blood pressure (hypertension).
  • A heart attack.
  • Faulty heart valves.
  • Cardiomyopathy.
  • Myocarditis.
  • Congenital heart defects.
  • Arrhythmias.
  • Diabetes.
  • HIV.
  • Hyperthyroidism.
  • Hypothyroidism.
  • Hemochromatosis.

Symptoms which could indicate one is suffering from cardiac failure may include:

  • Fatigue or weakness.
  • Shortness of breath.
  • Edema.
  • Arrhythmia.
  • Persistent cough or wheezing.
  • Increased need to urinate at night.
  • Ascites.
  • Chest pain and or heart attack.
Treatments for congestive heart failure

Now given the fact that congestive heart failure can be caused by a wide variety of medical conditions, it’s certainly possible that “given the proper” treatment, many clients will be able to go from having congestive heart failure, to a more “manageable” cardiac condition.

Treatments such as:

  • Prescription medications.
  • Artificial heart valve surgery.
  • Pacemaker implantation.
  • And improved diet.

May, over time, improve ones’ overall medical condition so that they would “theoretically” no longer be considered suffering from congestive heart failure and could “theoretically” become eligible for a traditional term or whole life insurance policy.

For these individuals, only a careful and thorough examination of their past and current health condition will tell us whether or not we should pursue a life insurance policy which would require them to be able to “medically” qualify.

That being said however…

What will be known for sure is that if you are currently suffering from congestive heart failure, you WILL NOT be eligible for a traditional life insurance policy and you will also NOT BE eligible for a simplified issue life insurance policy either.

The good news is that…

You may be still eligible for a guaranteed issue life insurance policy which is why we want to just take a minute or two to discuss exactly what a guaranteed issue life insurance policy is and discuss a few of their disadvantages.

Guaranteed issue life insurance policies

Guaranteed issue life insurance policies are life insurance policies which will not require an insurance applicant to answer any health-related questions or take a medical exam in order to qualify for them.

Applicants will simply need to:

  • Be a US citizen.
  • Be between the ages of 40-85.
  • And live in a state where they are offered by the insurance company.

And that’s it!

But before we get excited…

It’s important to understand that while guaranteed issue life insurance policies can be a great option for many, the “ease of qualifying” will come at a price.

You see, when it comes to guaranteed issue life insurance policies, there are three main disadvantages you need to be aware of before considering purchasing one for you and your family.

Disadvantages of a guaranteed issue life insurance policy

Disadvantage #1.

Guaranteed life insurance policies are going to provide a limited amount of life insurance coverage and will typically be limited to right around $25,000 dollars in coverage.

So… if $25,000 dollars in coverage isn’t going to be enough insurance to meet your needs, it’s quite possible that a guaranteed issue life insurance policy isn’t going to be the right life insurance policy for you.

One possible solution one may consider to increase their total insurance coverage beyond just $25,000 in coverage using a guaranteed issue life insurance policy is to purchase several of these types of life insurance policies, the only problem with that option is that it can get pretty expensive, pretty fast.

Another possible solution would be to purchase an accidental death insurance policy, however this “solution” would only provide additional coverage were you to die from an “accidental” cause of death and would not provide any coverage due to an “natural” or “illness based” cause of death.

Disadvantage #2.

The second major disadvantage to most guaranteed issue life insurance policies is that when you compare them to other “more traditional” types of life insurance policies, they tend to cost more “dollar for dollar”.

Or to phrase it another way, guaranteed issue life insurance policies tend to be pretty expensive considering just how much insurance coverage you are receiving.

That being said however, many folks will find themselves willing to overlook this issue especially if these are the only types of life insurance policies that they can currently qualify for.

Disadvantage #3.

Guaranteed issue life insurance policies will contain what is called a Graded Death Benefit.

Now, a graded death benefit, is a clause that will limit when your guaranteed issue life insurance policy will actually begin to cover you for loses due to a “natural” cause of death.  These clauses will basically state that an insured must “NOT DIE” from any “natural” or “illness based” causes of death for a minimum of 2-3 years (depending on the policy you choose to purchase), before your guaranteed issue life insurance policy will actually begin to cover an insured for natural causes of death.

Without a graded death benefit in place, insurance companies would simply be unable to offer guaranteed issue life insurance policies simply because they would have no way of knowing if they were accepting life insurance applications from individuals who were gravely ill.

And there you have it…

Now we know that we’ve gone over a ton of information here in a very short article, and the last thing that we would expect is for you to not have any questions for us.  Which is why we invite you to give us a call and give us an opportunity to earn your business.

Because you see…

The main reason why we chose to write this article is so that we could inform you that, even if you been diagnosed with cardiac heart failure, there still a really good chance that you will still have plenty of life insurance options out there provided that you know where to look!

So, what are you waiting for?  Give us a call today and see what we can do for you!

You may also be interested in comparing life insurance quotes from dozens of companies in our quoter that will allow you to compare companies that will and won’t require medical exams.

Written by
TermLife2Go
We are a team of life insurance experts with the simple mission of helping you find the best coverage for your unique situation. We research, review, and rank life insurance companies to make that process easier.