Living with atrial fibrillation and getting life insurance.
Behind every face is a story and these stories have one common thread. This is about four people that are living with atrial fibrillation (AF or AFib). There are many types of heart disease. AF is one of the most common forms of heart diseases. In a sense, the heart develops a short circuit. The rhythm of the heart, can jump, skip, and speed up wildly. Left untreated, AF can lead to more serious complications and even death.
The characters in these stories have one more thing in common. They all want and need life insurance, although they think that they cannot qualify because of their history of AF. If you have atrial fibrillation and think that you cannot get life insurance, you may think again after reading these stories.
Luther Robins is a seventy-year-old cotton farmer. He was born into a Texas farming family in 1947. Luther’s farm has been in his family for over one-hundred years. Luther has five children, three of which still work with him. With the help of his family, they have developed the land so that it grows cotton, raises cattle, and even has a few gas and oil wells. To keep up with the times, Luther took out a sizeable loan for new equipment and used the farm as collateral. The Robin's farm and ranch has had some good years and some bad. Luther has been worried that if he dies, there will not be enough money to pay off his equipment loan. If he dies, his family will be forced to sell part of the farm to pay off the loan.
Luther wanted to buy life insurance however he was turned down when he applied through the company with which he has his homeowners’ insurance. So, with the help of his son, Luther found Van Richards at Advice 4 Life Insurance. Luther and his son set a telephone appointment with Van to talk over Luther’s situation and see if there was a possibility that Van could help him find life insurance.
Luther explained that he had high blood pressure and had been plagued with a skipping heart for the past eight years. Luther’s doctor had diagnosed him with atrial fibrillation. His doctor prescribed digoxin to slow his heart and warfarin to thin his blood. He has seen a cardiologist who had him go through an echocardiogram. The test showed a mild thickening in Luther’s left ventricle and a moderate dilation of both the upper chambers of his heart. Luther explained that he still is very active. He still gets up every morning to work on the farm, and he sees his doctor regularly for a blood test.
Van explained to Luther that he worked with several life insurance companies and he may be able to find one that would be able to help. Van explained that he could present Luther’s medical situation to the insurers without disclosing Luther’s name or personal information. That way if some of the companies declined to consider offering life insurance it would not be in Luther’s medical files. Luther agreed, and it is a good thing that he did. One large life insurance company came back to Van and stated that if Luther would take another medical exam and the results of that exam had not changed from his last doctor exam, they would offer Luther a life insurance policy with a small table rating.
Health ratings are one of the ways that life insurance companies set their life insurance rates. All insurers have a health rating that is referred to as standard. There are normally as many as eight table ratings below the standard rating.
Luther took the exam that the life insurance company required and the results had not changed from his last doctor visit, so he was approved for a life insurance policy with a table A rating. Van called Luther with the good news and Luther was very happy. You would have thought Luther won the lottery.
Key takeaway information
Knowing what medical information to gather and knowing which life insurance companies to go to made a big difference in getting Luther approved for a life insurance policy.
Sally Warren is a 58-year-old elementary school teacher. She says that she loves teaching however in four more years she will have been teaching 40 years and would like to retire. She and her husband have two adult children, one of which lives with the Warrens with his wife and baby. When some families are looking forward to the day when their children leave, Sally and her husband have a home that is big enough for everyone and enjoy having their family together. One of the reasons there is lots of room is the house is new and has fifteen years left to pay on the mortgage. Having a mortgage at this point of their lives worries Sally and her husband, Jim. If one of them died the other will be left owing a lot of money
Sally has $200,000 of term life insurance through her work. However that will stop in four years, and if something happened to Sally, her husband Jim would be left with the entire mortgage. Sally tried getting life insurance, but she was declined because of her history of atrial fibrillation.
About five years ago, Sally began to have dizzy spells, and she said her heart felt like it was jumping in her chest. She saw a cardiologist, and he put her on medication, but it did not work. The dizzy spells and heart palpitations began happening about once or twice a week. Sally’s cardiologist recommended for Sally to have a procedure called a pulmonary vein ablation. It has been four years since the procedure. Sally has been able to stop taking medications and has had no symptoms.
After being turned down by one life insurance company, one of Sally’s friends told her about Van Richards at Advice 4 Life Insurance. She found his website, set up a telephone appointment and found that there are life insurance companies that will consider people who have a history of atrial fibrillations. Van took all of Sally’s information online and found her a fifteen-year term life insurance policy with a very well rated life insurance company. The policy was only rated as a standard risk; however, it gave Sally a life insurance that would allow her family to keep their house and their family together in the event the worst happened. However, Sally and Jim are looking forward to her retirement in four more years and much more after that.
Key takeaway information
The key to finding life insurance for Sally was finding an insurer that would look at the success of her recovery rather than focus on her history of AF.
Walter Huff is a 40-year-old CPA with three children. And Ann, his wife is a stay-at-home mom. Walt has a lot of irons in the fire. He runs a small accounting practice. He has a son and two daughters. He coaches his son’s baseball team, and both of his daughters are in dance. He makes almost every one of his children’s events. Oh, and he is also very active in two chambers of commerce groups. So, Walt has a lot going on. About five years ago, Walt started to feel like he just did not have the physical stamina that he used to. Plus, it seemed like over the past several years around the April and October tax deadline, Walt would start to get out of breath, and his collar would feel like it was a size too small. At first, he just thought it was the long days of tax season, but Ann encouraged him to see his doctor. Walt’s doctor had him do an echocardiogram and EKG stress test. The test showed that Walt’s heart was normal.
He explained to his doctor that he only seemed to have problems around stressful times. Walt’s doctor told him that he might have what some people call Holiday Heart Syndrome. The heart will have atrial fibrillations when he is going through stressful situations. His doctor also prescribed metoprolol which is a medication to slow the heart. He only needed to take the medicine when he had symptoms. It was September when Walt saw his doctor so the doctor suggested that for a few days during the tax season, Walt should wear a Holter monitor. This is just a small device that measures the heart continually for a few days. Sure enough, before October 15th when Walt was putting in fourteen-hour days, he started to have heart palpitations, and they showed up on the Holter monitor test. His doctor told him that since they only occurred at certain stressful times to try to control the stress and continue to take the metoprolol when he felt it was necessary.
Walt knew Van Richards through the chamber of commerce, so he asked him about life insurance. Walt told Van that he had applied through his professional association but had been declined. Van has a lot of experience dealing with how life insurance companies view adverse health conditions, and he knew exactly how to help Walt. He had Walt complete a Time Saver application. This is a short form that gathers medical information about the person applying for life insurance. Van then submitted the Time Saver to about thirty different life insurance companies asking their opinion on Walt’s insurability.
Van explained that the good part of the Time Saver process was that only Walt’s medical information was shared with the life insurance companies, not his name or other identification information. This way, if some of the thirty life insurance companies declined to offer coverage, it would not be on Walt’s medical record or affect him if he applied for future insurance.
The results of the Time Saver were good. Several life insurance companies came back with offers. The best offer was a twenty-year term life insurance at a standard rating. Van also explained to Walt that if he got to the point that he could control the palpitations without medication, he should consider re-applying and perhaps he may be able to get a health rating better than standard.
Key takeaway information
The key to Walt getting life insurance was knowing that having one decline of life insurance at his age was not good when approaching other life insurance companies. The more life insurance companies that declined coverage, the harder if not impossible it would be to obtain future coverage. Being able to present his condition anonymously to many life insurance companies made a significant difference in obtaining coverage.
Camille Huang is a 35-year old physician’s assistant who is married with one child. After looking at their overall debt and the cost of raising a child, Camille and her husband decided that they needed life insurance. Camille has group life insurance that is one time her salary through her work. However, she felt that was not enough.
Here is a little about her health history. Three years ago, at the age of 32, Camille began to feel like her heart was skipping. At night when she would lie in bed her heart would pound, and she had a terrible time controlling how hot she felt. Camille had a good idea that she had atrial fibrillations, she just did not know what was causing them. She was young, exercised and ate a well-balanced diet. After having an EKG and discussing her symptoms with her personal doctor, Camille sought the advice of an endocrinologist.
The endocrinologist did several blood tests and diagnosed Camille with hyperthyroidism. After her thyroid disease was treated Camille’s palpitations disappeared and she has been fine since.
Camille obviously knows a lot about medicine and wanted to find a life insurance agent to work with to help her find a good life insurance policy at a good price. She searched online to find a local life insurance agent in Houston that understood the implications of atrial fibrillations, and she found Van Richards with Advice 4 Life Insurance. Camille had never applied for life insurance however she understood the medical aspects of her condition very well. After explaining her situation to Van through a telephone appointment, he was able to find a well-rated life insurance company that gave Camille a twenty-year term life insurance policy with a preferred rating, the lowest price available at Camille’s age. Camille was very happy.
Key takeaway information
The key to finding Camille a life insurance company that would give her a preferred rating was communicating her condition, her healthy lifestyle and her proactive approach toward staying healthy. Gathering all that information only from the life insurance application was unlikely. Communicating those positive aspects in a well-written cover letter was an important aspect of obtaining such a good health rating.
Post script
Atrial Fibrillation is the most common abnormal heart rhythm in the United States affecting approximately 2.7 to 6.1 million Americans (CDC, n.d.).
If you have been diagnosed with atrial fibrillation, it may be possible to get life insurance still. To find out if you qualify for life insurance contact Van Richards at Advice 4 Life Insurance. The consultation is free, and it may save you money, time and help you find the life insurance you want. If you would like to set a phone appointment, follow this link: Set an appointment.
The information provided does not disclose any personal information of current, past or prospective clients. The names and pictures used are fictional. However the situations are very real. If you have circumstances like the examples, there is not a guarantee that you will be able to obtain a health rating exactly like those in the stories. Let’s talk and see what we can find for you.
I will remind you that this information is not intended to communicate medical health recommendations. My principal goal is to help you better communicate your health condition to a life insurance underwriter in hopes of getting a favorable life insurance policy.
By Van Richards
Van is the founder of Advice4LifeInsurance and Advice4Retirement. You can contact him at van@advice4lifeinsurance.com Follow on Twitter @VanRichards or Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/advice4lifeinsurance/ and https://www.facebook.com/Advice4Retirement/
References
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (n.d.). Atrial fibrillation fact sheet. Retrieved from Division for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention website: https://www.cdc.gov/dhdsp/data_statistics/fact_sheets/fs_atrial_fibrillation.htm