10 Mar Life Insurance after Significant Weight Loss
Your weight can affect your life insurance, even if you have lost weight by diet and exercise or through a weight reduction surgery. Being overweight is not easy, and it isn’t easy to lose weight. Now you’ve lost the weight, but you may not have thought about how it can affect your life insurance. It’s important to understand how life insurance companies view weight, especially in relation to other health problems you may have. You also want to know what your life insurance options are if you fall into a high-risk category so you can continue to protect your loved ones.
Let’s begin by looking at how life insurance companies look at weight. Insurance underwriters, the people who determine if you are eligible and what risk level you are when you apply, they must use the body mass index (BMI) guidelines. The BMI is a chart the government adopted in the 1990’s, which was developed by a Belgian statistician. The BMI is a formula that uses your height and weight to calculate where you fall on the BMI chart.
If you are within 25 to 29.9 pounds of the average weight for your group, then you are determined to be within weight. If your BMI is 30 or higher, then you are determined to be obese. This number can be somewhat frustrating because body weight includes bone, muscle, and fat, and the BMI is an average taken from a sample of the population.
Other Conditions
They also consider any other health conditions you may have, which can be any severe and/or chronic condition. The conditions most associated with being overweight are heart disease, stroke, diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, sleep apnea, and some types of cancer. Each of these health conditions can lead to more serious problems. Hopefully, you do not have any of these problems, but if you do, it will put you into a high-risk category for life insurance.
Weight Loss
Losing the weight is only a small piece of the picture. If you have lost the weight quickly, had weight loss surgery, or even now are underweight, it can still be a problem. Your weight alone does not paint a good picture for the life insurance company, so you need more evidence that you are living healthy and taking good care of yourself.
Many people working to lose weight are being regularly seen by their physician, especially if they are managing other health issues. One option is to have your doctor write a letter indicating what your treatment is or has been, what your activity level is (going to a gym, play sports, etc.), and how your health has improved over a specific span of time. This will help the underwriters see more of your health than just your weight and medical diagnoses.
Time
The passage of time is a factor that can be on your side. If you lose a significant amount of weight, it’s a great idea to keep an ongoing record of your basic diet and exercise. You can use this to keep your doctor informed of your healthy living progress outside of the weight loss. Continuing to go to your follow-up doctor appointments so they can share your medical records is important. These records will show your improvement or that you are maintaining the weight loss and an overall healthy lifestyle.
High Risk Rating
If you are rated as a high risk, this can mean different things depending on the life insurance company. In the worst case, you are denied coverage. You can appeal this decision by checking to see that they received all the necessary documentation from your physician(s). If they have, you can have your doctor(s) write the letter discussed previously. You may be approved for a policy at a substandard rating, which means your policy will have special restrictions, higher premiums, or both. This decision can be revisited after a year, two, or even five years later, and if your weight and health have improved, restrictions or higher rates can be dropped.
Options
Outside of appealing the insurance company’s decision and taking a substandard rating, there are other options for life insurance. One is to move to a life insurance company that does not require a medical exam or ask about your medical health at all. Applying to these companies can be relatively simplistic and have faster approval times. One downside is the cost will be quite a bit higher than other policies. You need to be aware that even though these companies do not ask about your health, they can still find your medical information through the Medical Information Bureau or a prescription history report, and based on what they find, you can be denied a policy.
You may be better off by working with a life insurance company that does review your medical records and require a medical exam. If you go this route, it leaves you open to the possibility of lower insurance rates. Even if the rates are high initially, over time, you can move to lower rates. It also allows the insurance underwriters the opportunity to review your medical health across time along with information about your progress from your physician, rather than making a decision from a snapshot from an information database.
What Now?
As you can see, this can be confusing to figure out by yourself. You want your loved ones to be taken care of, but now you’re not sure which route is best. The solution is to contact one of the friendly, experienced agents at The Life Insurance Store, a life insurance comparison company. By working with an agent, you can freely ask all the questions you have. The agent will help you sort through your options and work to locate a life insurance policy that fits the coverage you want within the budget you have. Don’t waste time trying to sort through it alone, call or visit the Life Insurance Store.com to start exploring life insurance options today.
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