What do Life Insurance Companies Look for if you had Cancer?

With no surprise, acquiring life insurance for a reasonable price is difficult if you have been afflicted with cancer in your past.  Even after waiting for extended periods of time after being cancer free getting the right policy for you is tricky.  The type, stage, and grade of the cancer prognosis that is unique to your situation will be used to determine the health rating that each insurance is willing to offer to you.

For Instance, insurers are more apt to give reasonable health ratings to those who had cancer that was considered stage 0, like in situ breast cancer. Since this stage and type of cancer was non-invasive and didn’t spread outside of the specific area life insurance can be underwritten at reasonable health ratings.

A similar result could be expected for someone who had stage 0 or 1 Melanoma. Melanoma can be a lethal in later stages but, life insurance underwriters are aware of two things:

• Preliminary stages excised should have a good prognosis
• The client is likely to have routine follow-up visits for the rest of their lives making the chances of recurrence less likely

Life insurance can generally be underwritten upon completion of treatment or within six months of the completion of treatment.  Furthermore, prostate cancer, depending on the stage and Gleason grade being 6 or less, can be underwritten post treatment when the PSA has reached minimal levels.  Thus, allowing for those interested in acquiring life insurance realistic within a year of the last treatment date.

Then there are cancers that life insurance companies may take their time considering. For example, when underwriting cancers that have a high rate of recurrence such as bladder, liver, or lung cancer life insurance companies normally expect longer periods of remission before approving an applicant for a policy. Since these cancers are more apt to spread, unfortunately, the survival rate is lower and this forces the life insurance companies to charge more for taking on this risk.

Applicants that have or have had thyroid cancer in stage 0 or stage 1 are within the level of risk that insurance companies are willing to accept. Keeping in mind that stage 0 and stage 1 don’t involve the lymph systems, a thyroidectomy, and possibly some radiation therapy just as a precaution. Underwriters may still err on the side of caution and in the case of stage 0 wait a few years and with stage 1, three to five years. To learn more about the intricacies of how to get the right policy for those who have had thyroid cancer, please click here. Cancer is not always a show stopper with life insurance post treatment and it’s always a promising idea, armed with your pathology report, to check out what your options are with an experienced professional.