Getting Life Insurance with Mitral Valve Prolapse
Some people may think mitral valve prolapse (MVP) is not a life-threatening health condition. That may be true in many circumstances. When applying for life insurance, MVP takes on a new interpretation. Life insurance companies look at MVP more seriously. Below are the stories of Nancy and Steve who have MVP. By following their experience at applying for life insurance, you can see how their health condition affected their ability to qualify for life insurance protection. If you have MVP, hopefully, this information will give you an understanding of what to expect when you apply for life insurance.
A simple explanation of MVP is when blood is pumped through the heart, the valve on the left side of the heart leaks some of the blood back into the upper chamber. In the illustration, you can see a small back-flow of blood.
Anytime that someone is applying for life insurance that has MVP, they should include a cover letter to detail and clarify their health condition. A life insurance agent who is experienced in assisting customers to communicate their health condition can be a big help. The person that evaluates that paperwork is called the underwriter. The underwriter must review the application and interpret medical information. I have always looked at underwriters as the detectives of the life insurance industry. It is their job to look at a life insurance application and determine the risk that the applicant will pose to the insurance company if they sold them a policy.
Most online medical sources say that MVP is usually not a problem. Here is what WebMD says: “Mitral valve prolapse (MVP) is a very common condition, affecting 1% to 2% of the population” (Bekerman, 2017). Even though MVP is common, life insurance companies look at it seriously. They are looking to see what the complications may be and how likely the life insurance applicant is to have difficulties in the future. If a person is applying for a twenty or thirty-year term life insurance policy, the underwriter is concerned about what might happen many years from now.
There are three complications from MVP that life insurance companies consider serious and may affect the long-term health of a person. Mitral valve regurgitation is the most common complication. This condition is when there is a backflow of blood into the upper left chamber of the heart, the atrium. Men over 50 with high blood pressure seem to have the highest propensity of having this condition. MVP can occur with heart rhythm irregularities and usually is problematic if there is a significant backflow of blood into the atrium. All complications can be severe. However, when heart valves become acutely infected, this can be a significant life-threatening event. Heart valve infections are called endocarditis. It is a bacterial infection that enters the body in several ways and can further damage the mitral valve of the heart (Mayo Clinic, n.d.)
Meet Nancy, she has MVP
With this information, let’s look at the stories of two people who live with MVP and applied for life insurance. Nancy is a 42-year-old advertising executive. She is married and has two children ages twelve and nineteen. With her husband, they have about $150,000 in debt, and they expect to fund their children’s college education fully. Nancy wants more life insurance, all she has now is two times her salary at work. She shopped for a half-million-dollar term life insurance policy however she is worried about her medical history and how that will affect the price. Nancy has no significant health problems and takes no medication except at twenty-five she went to the doctor with mild chest pain. At the time, she had an EKG and an echocardiogram which showed MVP. The pain has not resurfaced, and she has had no problems since then. Nancy sees a doctor regularly, and in the past year, she had an EKG test that was normal.
We had an online appointment to discuss her condition and talked about the type of life insurance that she wanted. From my experience, I did not think that the MVP would be much of a problem if at all. I suggested one company from which I had had good results, plus they had a very competitive price. I took all the information and submitted her application with a cover letter. Nancy applied for a half-million-dollar life insurance policy that is guaranteed level for fifteen years. The cover letter detailed her past experiences, her current situation, and health routines. After the life insurance company had reviewed Nancy’s medical records, they issued her life insurance policy with a preferred rating. That was the highest rating available from the life insurance company, which meant that Nancy got the lowest price for her life insurance policy.
Key take away points
Nancy was cautious in her approach because she knew she had a medical history. Working with me as her agent, she disclosed all the information, and I summarized it in a cover letter accompanying the application. It is important to know that even though it had been almost twenty years since her diagnosis of MVP, she still disclosed it. It is easier to help a life insurance underwriter form an opinion of you, rather than try to change their opinion. Trying to change a life insurance underwriter's view of you after they find medical information that you did not disclose on the application or cover letter is almost impossible.
Meet Steve, he has MVP
The next example of someone with MVP applying for life insurance is Steve, a 54-year-old computer engineer. He is self-employed and is buying a new house closer to his work. He is married with three grown children. Steve was looking for a $750,000 ten-year life insurance policy. Steve has a healthy diet and exercises daily. His height is six feet, and his weight is 164 pounds. The only problem that he has is mitral valve prolapse. It does not bother him, and he does not take any medication. However about ten years ago, when he had some dental work done, his physician prescribed an antibiotic before his procedure.
Steve had a check-up last year where he had an EKG and an echocardiogram. The test showed MVP and a moderate regurgitation into his atrium. Other than that, his heart was normal and has been the same over the past five years.
Steve had a twenty-year term life insurance policy that he had purchased from me that would be ending soon. When Steve and I first met, he did not have any heart problems. Now it was a different story. Steve had an active health situation, and he fit the profile of someone that doctors have concerns about, he is lean and in his fifties. Since I knew his circumstance would pose some life insurance challenges, I submitted his medical information anonymously through a network of many life insurance companies. Insurers that participate in this pre-application process only consider policies that are one million dollars or more in coverage. That was a little higher than Steve needed. I explained to him that going through the pre-application process gave him a much better chance of getting a reasonably priced policy. If we only went to one life insurance company at a time, there was a good chance that he would either be declined or asked to pay a higher rate because of his health condition. From my experience, I felt that I could get several competitive offers if we went through the pre-application process. The process is a round-table conference call with several top life insurance companies participating. Agents submit, the basic medical information of a customer to the group and the underwriters ask and answer questions about the potential customer without their identity being disclosed. This way more than one life insurance company could make an offer, and if any of them declined him, it would not be on his permanent medical file with the Medical Information Bureau (MIB)
The MIB is a non-profit organization that serves the insurance industry. With the permission of insurance company customers, they collect medical information on everyone that applies for insurance. They then share that information with any other insurance company that subscribes to their services when they have a customer apply for a policy.
By using the life insurance network for reviewing potential customers, I could prevent Steve’s health information from being circulated. It was good that we took this course of action because there were several companies that declined to make an offer. The best offer he got was a table four health 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 called standard. There are normally as many as eight table ratings below the standard rating.
By using the life insurance network for reviewing potential customers, I could prevent Steve’s health information from being circulated to other life insurance companies. It was good that we took this course of action because several companies declined to make an offer. The best offer he got was a table four health 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 called standard. There are normally as many as eight table ratings below the standard rating.
It was not as good as Steve expected and the table four did make the policy more expensive. Working with Steve and the insurer, we reduced the policy coverage to $500,000. It is important to point out that if we had not applied for $1,000,000 that life insurance company would have never considered offering Steve a policy. Since that life insurance company had already put a great deal of time into researching his application, they were more inclined to allow a lower level of coverage. Reducing the death benefit reduced the price, and it still gave Steve the coverage he needed.
Key take away points.
People with an active health concern may be able to get life insurance. However, it takes some work. In a situation such as this, an experienced life insurance agent can make a difference between getting life insurance or not getting life insurance. Going to the life insurance network made it possible to shop different insurers without damaging Steve’s chances with other insurers. If you do get a rating that increases the cost, re-evaluate your budget and see if you need to change your coverage. Or perhaps you may need to make allowances elsewhere. Do not overlook group employer plans. The buying power of a group can help you get valuable life insurance many times with no proof of insurability.
Post Script
Mitral valve prolapse is the most common heart valve problem in America (AHA, 2016)
If you are diagnosed with MVP, it may still be possible to get life insurance. To find out if you qualify for life insurance contact me, 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.
To learn more about life insurance with MVP, start a conversation by Facebook Messenger, email or phone at 713-320-6124.
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
References
American Heart Association. (2016, May). Problem: mitral valve prolapse. Retrieved February 16, 2017, from http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/Conditions/More/HeartValveProblemsandDisease/Problem-Mitral-Valve-Prolapse_UCM_450441_Article.jsp#.WKX5vjsrJPY
Beckerman, J. (2017, January 14). What is mitral valve prolapse (MVP)? Retrieved February 9, 2019, from https://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/qa/what-is-mitral-valve-prolapse-mvp
Mayo Clinic. (n.d.). Symptoms and causes - mitral valve prolapse. Retrieved February 16, 2017, from http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/mitral-valve-prolapse/symptoms-causes/dxc-20307845