Co-Founder, TermInsuranceBrokers.com, Goldenzweig Financial Group, Las Vegas, Nevada
A lot of people think "once you have cancer, you're uninsurable for life." This is not true. If you've completed your cancer treatment and a given amount of time has passed since it's completion (generally 2+ years are ideal conditions for getting coverage approved by an underwriter. Some carriers may ask for 3, 4, 5, or more years since completion, varies by carrier), you can qualify for life insurance benefits.
When you're looking for life insurance and you have a history of cancer, you will definitely want to shop the case before applying for coverage with a company. Every carrier has their own underwriting guidelines. With cancer histories, the type of cancer, course of treatment, when treatment was completed, and other factors, may result in a wide variety of risk classes carriers will assign. Company ABC could come back with table 2 and Company XYZ could come back with table 6.
You will want to work with an independent agent/broker that can look at multiple carriers, not just a single one.
The only point in time where a carrier is going to look at cancer as an auto-decline, is when treatment isn't yet completed. During this time, you're best options for life insurance benefits will generally be a guaranteed-issue whole life policy (features a 2 year "graded" benefit period).
The first step is to getting life insurance with cancer, is to contact a good impaired risk life insurance agency/agent that carries a range of products. Cancer life insurance policies change as the years from diagnosis increase. People who are first diagnosed/treated will need to start with guaranteed issue insurance, but then after a year or two of being cancer/treatment free, they can likely qualify for a simplified issue policy at a slightly lower rate. Some types and stages of cancer can be medically underwritten shortly after treatment; some will never be able to qualify for a medically underwritten policy. Using a knowledgeable agent who carries an assortment of policies will save you time. It will also help preserve your sense of dignity and well being.
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When you're looking for life insurance and you have a history of cancer, you will definitely want to shop the case before applying for coverage with a company. Every carrier has their own underwriting guidelines. With cancer histories, the type of cancer, course of treatment, when treatment was completed, and other factors, may result in a wide variety of risk classes carriers will assign. Company ABC could come back with table 2 and Company XYZ could come back with table 6.
You will want to work with an independent agent/broker that can look at multiple carriers, not just a single one.
The only point in time where a carrier is going to look at cancer as an auto-decline, is when treatment isn't yet completed. During this time, you're best options for life insurance benefits will generally be a guaranteed-issue whole life policy (features a 2 year "graded" benefit period).