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Qualifying for Life Insurance with Cardiomyopathy

Researcher & Writer
August 02, 2017

Providing accurate life insurance quotes for someone who has been diagnosed with cardiomyopathy can sometimes be a very difficult task.  This is mainly due to the fact that cardiomyopathy is a term used to describe wide variety of pre-existing medical conditions that will affect the heart muscle.

And…

Depending on what pre-existing heart condition you have, that has led you to be diagnosed with cardiomyopathy will ultimately go a long way in determining what “type” of life insurance policies you will and won’t be eligible.  This “root cause” will also play a major role in determining what “rate” you’ll be expected to pay should you be approved for coverage as well. Coverage such as fully underwritten life insurance, simplified issue, or guaranteed issue life insurance.

This is why…

It’s usually better to look at what the “root” cause is for ones’ cardiomyopathy is and use that medical condition as your guide in determining what rate you may qualify should you decide to apply for life insurance.

But before we start looking…

At what the “root” cause may be for your cardiomyopathy, it’s also important to first take a look at what cardiomyopathy is, and identify the three major types of cardiomyopathy that one can be diagnosed with.

This way, we’ll be able to better understand what concerns a life insurance underwriter may have before approving your life insurance application, and see if we can avoid any “unnecessary” life insurance application denials.

About cardiomyopathy.

Cardiomyopathy is a general term that is used to encompass a wide variety of diseases that will affect ones’ heart muscle.  In most cardiomyopathy cases, one will see that the heart muscle has become either:

  • Enlarged.
  • "Thickened"
  • Or stiffened.

Each of which, will ultimately decrease the hearts natural ability to pump blood throughout the body leading to variety of serious medical conditions that can extend to many other areas of the body.

Three main types of cardiomyopathy:

Dilated Cardiomyopathy.

Dilated cardiomyopathy is a type of cardiomyopathy, whereby the heart becomes enlarged and is no longer able to pump ones’ blood efficiently.  Potential causes can include:

  • Coronary artery disease.
  • Alcoholism.
  • Thyroid disease.
  • Diabetes.
  • Viral infections.
  • Heart valve abnormalities.
  • Certain medications and/or narcotics.
  • Genetic.

Dilated Cardiomyopathy and life insurance.

When it comes time to helping those who have been diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy, we generally going to find that the best rates that these individuals will be able to qualify for are going to be what are called “Table Rates”.

Table rates are rates that fall below a Standard or Normal rate and range from Table A (the best possible table rate) to Table J (the worst possible table rate).  Table rates are also generally reserved for “higher” risk applicants.

Qualifying for the best rate…

Now in order for someone who has been diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy, to be able to qualify for the lowest/best possible Table Rate, they’re going to need to prove that the “underlying” cause of their dilated cardiomyopathy is no longer going to be contributing to the progression of their disease.

And there lies the problem…

Because dilated cardiomyopathy is an incurable disease, which can only be treated by managing the symptoms that it causes, the insurance companies are going to want to make sure that what has originally caused you cardiomyopathy to occur has been “cured” and/or “managed”.

How well we can document this will ultimately determine what type of Table Rating you can qualify for as well as whether or not you’re approved at all!

Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy or Hypertrophic Obstructive Cardiomyopathy.

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy Is defined as a type of cardiomyopathy, whereby the heart muscle becomes thicker than normal.  And while symptoms such as:

  • Chest pain.
  • Shortness of breath, lightheadedness and/or fainting.
  • Arrhythmia.
  • Atrial fibrillation.
  • And even sudden death.

May occur, an equal number of people may go on to not experience any symptoms at all.

Lastly, why hypertrophic cardiomyopathy may have a genetic component to it, normal aging combined with elevated blood pressure levels (hypertension) do seem to pay a larger role in its development.

This is why…

When it comes to purchasing life insurance with a diagnosis of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, you’ll generally find that you should be able to qualify for a Table Rating somewhere between Table D and Table J.

Diagnosed before age 40?

It should be noted however…

That if you have been diagnosed with Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy before the age of 40, most if not all, life insurance companies are going to deny you coverage for a traditional term or whole life insurance policy, in which case one will need to pursue a guaranteed issue or simplified issue life insurance policy if they are still interested in purchasing a life insurance policy. But don't worry, we work with some of the best final expense whole life insurance companies.

Restrictive Cardiomyopathy.

Restrictive cardiomyopathy is defined as a hardening of the ventricular walls which as a result makes it difficult for the heart to continue to pump blood effectively.

Researchers are not 100% sure what actually causes one to develop restrictive cardiomyopathy, many “feel” that it may be due to:

  • Amyloidosis or Amyloid disease.
  • Exposure to chemotherapy or radiation therapy.
  • Hemochromatosis.
  • In addition to other potential causes.

Symptoms associated with restrictive cardiomyopathy will often times be very similar to those of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and in some cases not present any symptoms at all.

Restrictive Cardiomyopathy and life insurance.

When it comes to qualifying for life insurance with a restrictive cardiomyopathy diagnosis, you’ll find that the underwriting process will look very similar to those who hypertrophic cardiomyopathy with approval rates falling somewhere between a Table D to J.

There are however…

Certain things that you can do to help improve your chances at qualifying for the best rate possible.  The most important of which is to make sure that you apply with a life insurance company that is going to have the most lenient underwriting guidelines when it comes to underwriting those who have been diagnosed with cardiomyopathy.

How do you do this?

That’s easy, first select an insurance brokerage that works with dozens of different life insurance companies and let them have those companies compete to earn your business, then once you’ve been approved, depending on “shop” that approval with any other companies you feel might be able to offer you a better deal, and if not, then you’ll know you’ve made the right decision.

Now we here at TermLife2Go…

Will be happy to help you out with the first step of this process and are pretty sure that once you see just how many different insurance companies that we work with you’ll find that you’re probably not going to need to “shop” your approval around once you get approved through us!

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

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.