Life Insurance For Diabetic Senior

Being a diabetic is not as dire as it used to be and insurance companies have taken notice. New treatments are now available and, armed with more knowledge, more diabetics are able to better control their illness with little or no medication. Lifespan for diabetics has certainly increased. This is particularly true for older individuals. Although less options may be available because of the age of a senior, in many cases, more plans may be available than if the person with diabetes is in his/her mid 40s or younger.

Which plans are available to seniors with diabetes?

Availability of life insurance plans will greatly depend on the type of diabetes the senior has (type 1 or type 2), how well controlled the diabetes is and other past or present health conditions (such as heart attack, kidney disease...) If the issue is just a well-controlled diabetes, many insurance companies offer term life insurance as well as universal life insurance and whole life insurance at good rates. Even diabetic seniors age 85 (and younger of course) should be able to easily secure a good life insurance plan that will cover them for a short term or their lifetime.

In cases where there are other health issues, availability may be limited to a level whole life insurance. In more severe cases, graded or modified whole life insurance may be the only options available to a diabetic senior. In some more unusual cases (our experience) no plans may be available.

Is a no exam plan better?

We have heard this question quite often. If a person is diabetic, should they choose to undergo an insurance exam in order to possibly secure better rates? Is the longer underwriting process worth it (4 weeks+)? Well, that all depends on many factors. Here are a few things to consider.

If the senior individual is sure that they have good control of their diabetes then, maybe doing an exam will yield better results. If the senior does not want to take the risk of getting negative results from an insurance exam, then, by all means, selecting a no exam plan is the best choice. Please note that we are not advocating that anyone not tell the whole truth. If a senior knows that they have uncontrolled diabetes, they MUST say it on the application. Our concern is that we have seen too many cases were someone, with well controlled diabetes, took an exam and the results were less than positive or disastrous!

The amount of insurance may also be a deciding factor as to whether or not a senior should or should not do an exam or not. If all you need is $25,000 in life insurance, not many companies will offer full underwriting plans and, from what we have seen, the price difference is not worth the exam and all the trouble and risk. In cases where a small amount is needed, we highly recommend the no exam route. In most cases, it seems, seniors only request quotes from $5,000 to $20,000.

One other factor for not doing an exam and keeping things simple is not always so obvious. In cases where the insurance is requested by a child for a parent or grandparent, the parent or grandparent is not willing to cooperate with the process. Some parents or grandparents feel that the insurance is not needed or children should not spend money on a parent or.... Bottom line is, the simpler the process (read no exam life insurance for seniors) the better. A parent or grandparent is much more likely to go through with the life insurance if it is fast and painless.

I hope that this short article has better prepared you if you are a diabetic senior in need of life insurance. As we say in all of our articles, regardless of your decision (including no insurance at all), we recommend that you ask a lot of questions. Feel free to contact us too if you have questions on life insurance for diabetic seniors.