Life Insurance with Cancer

It is not impossible to get decent life insurance after the diagnosis of cancer. Although difficult, it is feasible to obtain despite having this particular terminal disease. Several factors will be considered by insurance carriers and these include: the type, grade of cancer, stage, and treatment plan. Another would be the regularity of past treatments, its outcome, and how often the follow-up check-ups are.

Many insurance companies abide by the guidelines provided by the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database (SEER), which is provided by the National Cancer Institute. This database has information on almost three million patients which have corresponding numbers for their respective files. Oncologists and medical researchers from across the country submit reports to SEER. Insurance carriers can access the SEER database for applicants needing endorsements. They can review the diagnosis and stages, patient demographics, information and location of tumors, morphology, follow-up procedures and the like.

Considering the fact that mortality risk for cancer patients is within the first few years, insurance policies are intentionally delayed. Progress reports help determine how advance the disease is and it is not common to find an insurer willing to approve a policy for someone who is currently having treatment. A patient who has a good prognosis can get a policy within one to two years.

Breast cancer survivors usually have their records evaluated by insurance companies even after seven years of completing their respective treatments. Promising results often lead to better insurance premiums. Other cancer survivors opt to avail of life insurance after the disease has been in remission for about five years. There are certain types of cancer that insurance companies categorize as low risk. An example of this is skin cancer. Often, this kind of cancer doesn’t have an impact on insurance premiums.

It’s important to note that majority of insurance carriers will not approve applications of cancer patients whilst they are under treatment for it. Once again, the type of cancer a person has will affect premiums and other charges. For example, there might be a “temporary flat extra” which is a surcharge imposed somewhere between two to five years based on the cancer type and treatment of an applicant. These charges are not permanent and will be removed after a specific period of time.

Several treatable and common forms of cancer like prostate, testicular, breast and thyroid can give an applicant a standard rating when circumstances are ideal. Other types like colon cancer and leukemia are usually declined, if not, they either get a “high substandard” or “substandard” rating. When the cancer has already metastasized, that person won’t be able to avail of any policy.

The rule to remember is, the earlier the stage of cancer – the better chances of securing an insurance policy. This is due to the fact that many developments have been made in the treatment of cancer. Patients who have difficulty acquiring an insurance policy on their own can have a better chance of getting one through their employers with the use of the group rate.