Life insurance companies analyze risks and consider several factors that can lessen the duration of the risks to stay. Most of the time, the risk factor of paying life insurance benefits can be added with a higher cost of financial premiums. That is why it’s important to understand completely how health conditions are vital if you plan to buy life insurance premiums. You must realize what to expect when looking for an insurer that fits your affordable budget and needs. The most common risk that can affect the rate of life insurance is high blood pressure.
The risks included with high blood pressure can cause stroke and heart attacks, and worst, death. It is the reason why in serious cases of high blood pressure, several life insurance companies rejected coverage. However, comparing different companies and life insurance quotes, those people with high blood pressure can look for life insurance coverage that provides financial protection and their loved ones too.
Can You Get Life Insurance with High Blood Pressure?
Getting life insurance with high blood pressure varies on several aspects. These include your recent health problems, the place where the first diagnosis happened with high blood pressure, if you have other risk factors like smoking and drinking alcoholic beverages, and whether you are handling well your overall health condition.
Hypertension or high blood pressure is one of the silent illnesses that affect a lot of individuals and it shows no symptoms. You will know that you have this disease if you visit your doctor for an annual medical exam. Not knowing you have hypertension or not will still put you at a higher risk of developing other illnesses. These include aneurysm, stroke, arrhythmia, and heart attack.
In general, a person is qualified for life insurance with hypertension if they don’t experience other serious illnesses and if they can prove that they can follow the advice of their doctor, especially in managing their blood pressure. The rate of the life insurance you will get depends on the health class right after an insurer received and review the medication result you provided.
Why Does High Blood Pressure Affect Life Insurance Rates?
When talked about underwriting, it is when the life insurance provider weighs the risk factor of setting your premiums and offers you affordable coverage. It takes up most of the life insurance application processes. Underwriting also tries to see your lifestyle, medical history, hobbies, medical exam results, medication records, and the health or medical history of your family too.
The underwriter is the one who will see your medical exam and health records, as well as the related diagnosis with health risk, including hypertension or high blood pressure that leads to other diseases like kidney disease, stroke, and heart disease.
You will be assigned to a health classification depending on the provided underwriting details, which also classifies the kind of premiums applicable for you and can offer financial protection to your family. For instance, a Preferred Plus client will get a payment of less than that of those who belonged in Substandard identification.
If you manage your health condition very well and you are no longer experience other medical illnesses base on your medication exam that could put you at a higher risk for life insurance companies, you can still qualify for affordable market-leading life insurance rates or standard life insurance despite the final diagnosis.
Working with a health insurance advisor is a great help for you to attain the best rate options of life insurance that you need and is applicable for your condition.
High Blood Pressure Aspects That Can Affect Life Insurance
If you have hypertension and you tried to apply for health insurance, the insurer may ask you some questions or specific concerns regarding your diagnosis which includes:
- The severity of the condition
- Time of diagnosis
- Blood pressure readings
- Medications
- Complications related to the blood pressure
Age of onset
In general, the younger your age, the lesser the rates of your insurance will be. However, your age when you were initially diagnosed with hypertension or high blood pressure affects your premium.
In any case that you’ve been diagnosed with high blood pressure or hypertension your whole life, you may be assessed in a different process than you have developed the condition in the last month or year because of a stressful experience.
Severity of symptoms
Blood pressure readings consist of different sets of numbers. These are diastolic or the lower number on blood pressure reading, and systolic or the upper number on a blood pressure reading. These numbers are from AHA or American Heart Association which can break down into categories ranges from a Normal blood number to a Crisis status.
A person with numbers in High or Elevated and Stage 1 Range will be evaluated more compared to the person with High and Stage 2 Range. The one in the Crisis range may be rejected by life insurance coverage.
In learning the severe status of the condition of the person, underwriters assess the prescription history, asks about the person’s complications while having the condition, and review the records of their blood pressure readings from the initial diagnosis.
There are life insurance companies that need more assessment of the client and may request more medical details up to five years in the past.
Treatment options
The life insurance provider may ask you what kind of medications you take for your high blood pressure to handle your condition. If you do not have proof to show the provider that you are doing some necessary steps for your illness to be treated, you will be considered as a lower risk compared to someone who doesn’t show any changes at all to manage and control the severity of their medical conditions.
To know how you are handling your health condition, the insurer will compare your situation to other qualifications and asked questions like:
- Have you been smoking?
- Have you been drinking?
- What consists of your diet?
- Do you often exercise?
- How much caffeine do you take?
- How do you handle stress?
The answers to these questions will provide the underwriter a fair idea to compare or assess your medical conditions completely and how you are managing them. Those people who are pursuing a better change in their lifestyle may get lower rate options than those who are not doing anything for their symptoms.
Don’t get pressured when looking for life insurance with high blood pressure, even if the diagnosis could mean higher rates. You can still be qualified for a competitive premium, especially if you are managing well your hypertension. Compare and look around for a life insurance company with several independent providers to make sure that you are getting the best rates for a policy premium.
Factors Life Insurance Companies Look At
It is important to life insurance companies that an individual is taking the proper medication and precautions to keep, manage or control their condition. The history of their medications and checkups from a trusted physician is vital to the insurer as they need to compare it with your answers from the initial assessment.
The insurer will be looking more at:
- Any other illnesses occur presently
- How long you have hypertension
- Whether you smoke or use tobacco
- The control degree as seen from your medical records, lab test results, and height and weight changes
Life Insurance Company Blood Pressure Guidelines
Though the guidelines for blood pressure are comparably similar, it varies to different life insurance companies. Several insurers let readings for higher blood pressure, especially to older people, like 60 and up.
It was in 2003 the last time AHA updated the blood pressure guidelines for independent life insurance. Insurers don’t need to revise the guidelines all the time. An assessment was conducted for 10 comparable life insurance which proves insights that these guidelines are the same as what was written from the five years record, specifically for the Preferred rating classes, and Preferred Plus.
If there are new guidelines to be implemented, more US citizens, especially adults will possibly qualify for Preferred and Preferred Plus. But, if changes are provided to the new guidelines by AHA, it’s understandable enough to know that life insurance providers will be more strict with their own guidelines about high blood pressure hypertension because they have to consider the new classification for systolic and diastolic levels. All life insurance companies and independent providers don’t have the same classifications, but the most common among them all is the rating classes which includes the following:
- Preferred Plus or Super Preferred. It’s considered the best rating class available today. The blood pressure must be consistently lower than 141 over 86. Some carriers will let higher blood readings for people ages 60 and above who are still in excellent health.
- Preferred Class. For an individual to get a preferred rating, the blood pressure they must have is 145 over 90, and even lower than that. But again, this is offered to seniors who are in excellent health.
- Standard Plus. This rate requires a BP reading which is not higher than 151 over 91.
- Standard Class. For an individual to qualify for a standard class, the blood pressure reading must be lower than 161 over 91.
Types of Life Insurance Suitable for People With High Blood Pressure
The final decision you have to make is to learn the difference between permanent life insurance, term life insurance, and free life insurance. A lot of times if you experience an illness that leads to being surcharged of your term life insurance premiums, or ‘rated up’, you want to look for the lowest cost of permanent and term life insurance premiums that you can afford or possible free life insurance.
Another alternative for term life insurance applicants that belong to high-risk insurance classes is to apply for a life insurance policy that no exam is needed. It will guaranteed acceptance plans, though it will cost more it’s available especially for people who have uncontrolled hypertension.
The benefits of life insurance can be utilized for college funding for the kids, final expense needs, philanthropic donations to charities, salary continuation for the surviving partner, and to pay business and personal debts.
Life Insurance Riders for High Blood Pressure
Most life insurance companies will let the person add several riders to their chosen life insurance policy to add living benefits for the insured person and widen coverage.
High blood pressure hypertension might be a cause of other critical, terminal, and chronic diseases, people who are applying must consider adding to their life insurance the Living Benefits Rider. By getting this benefit on your policy gives the insurance company a chance to advance the person who wants to be insured to get a portion of death benefits and provide them financial support for medical expenses while you’re alive.
The Living Benefits Rider is also an advance cash value support from the death benefits. To make things clear, this extra benefit is not a loan from your insurance company. Any advances to the insured person will be deducted from the settlement you have paid for your insurance which your beneficiary will be getting in the future.
Natural Ways to Lower Your Blood Pressure
There are several ways in which you can lower or control your hypertension without taking any medications. The AHA or American Heart Association suggests the following life-changing lifestyle and process for symptoms and underlying condition be treated completely.
- Stop being a smoker.
- Limit the consumption of alcohol.
- Control and manage stress.
- Eat a well-balanced and low-sodium diet.
- Make sure to have regular exercise and any physical activity.
- Maintain a healthy weight.
The Bottom Line
Applying for life insurance with high blood pressure is not impossible. However, even if you qualify for insurance coverage, achieving rating class and approval is trickier. If you are familiar with the financial rating and learn about a broker or life insurance agent that you can trust, you will surely get the best life insurance. Do not settle for one company alone because you are free to try several insurance companies or a life insurance agent and choose the most trusted one that suited your financial needs. Keep in mind that an insurance agent must offer you life insurance quotes, so you have to take advantage of that and compare each one to know the right one applicable for you.
