Atrial Fibrillation and Life Insurance Underwriting Rules
When preparing your life insurance application, your broker or agent will ask you a lot of questions to get an idea about your condition. To prepare, you should have answers to the following questions:
- What was the date of your diagnosis and how old were you at the onset of your atrial fibrillation condition?
- How old are you?
- How frequent are your attacks?
- Has your condition been fully investigated by medical professionals?
- Have you been diagnosed with paroxysmal or chronic atrial fibrillation?
- What is your treatment?
- Have you had any complications from your treatment such as drug toxicity or hemorrhage from anticoagulant?
- Do you have any underlying heart disease?
- Have you ever had any heart disease complications such as a stroke or congestive heart failure?
- Do you have any concurrent impairment – history of alcohol abuse, CAD, valvular disease, stroke or TIA?
Why are There so Many Questions About my Atrial Fibrillation Condition?
Although these questions are personal, your answers are very important to whether you qualify for traditional life insurance and what your insurance rate and coverage will be. Always be honest about your answers; your life insurance broker only wants to help. To help you get the best insurance rates possible, they need to know everything they can about your atrial fibrillation condition.
Why do Insurance Companies Care?
Although atrial fibrillation isn’t fatal by itself, the risk to insurance companies comes from how this condition can increase your chances of a stroke or a serious heart condition. When an underwriter reviews your application they want to know the type (chronic or paroxysmal), other related heart conditions and your lifestyle choices.
While each life insurance company has different standards, below are some general traditional life insurance guidelines:
- Declined: If you’ve been newly diagnosed or if atrial fibrillation is discovered during your medical exam, you will probably be declined.
- Rated: If you have underlying heart disorders, you may qualify for a rated policy.
- Standard: If you’ve been diagnosed with paroxysmal atrial fibrillation and it’s well-controlled with minimal attacks, you may qualify for a standard policy.
Other Options – Simplified and Guaranteed Life Insurance
Even if you don’t qualify for traditional life insurance, you still have options. Ask your insurance broker about simplified life and guaranteed life insurance.
At Maple Bay Financial Corp., we will help you with your life insurance application if you’ve been diagnosed with atrial fibrillation and want to purchase life insurance. We are experienced and knowledgeable about all types of life insurance products.
To find out more about our services or to speak with an insurance professional, please call us at 1.888.498.5288.