Getting Approval of Life Insurance with Liver Cirrhosis

Being a senior citizen in the retirement phase of one’s life is hard enough but unfortunately, there are still things that you have to worry about if you want to enjoy your ”golden years”.

One of those things is a life insurance policy. Being able to know that you have secured yourself and your family for a long time is one of the biggest priorities you can have as an older individual. That is why life insurance is so important to senior citizens.

Now you may have gotten life insurance earlier in your life when you felt like it was the perfect time to do so.

But, what if you have developed a condition such as liver cirrhosis along the way?

Can your insurance agency drop you because of that?

Can you even get a life insurance policy if you have liver cirrhosis?

These and many more questions might come across your mind when thinking about this topic. This article will clear up some of those questions.

How Liver Cirrhosis Affect Life Insurance?

Liver cirrhosis is a condition in which the liver is in a late stage of scarring, caused by a lot of different factors such as long-term alcohol abuse and hepatitis.

But essentially, the problem with liver cirrhosis is that it is not just an alcohol-related disease.

Older individuals are at a higher risk for getting cirrhosis because of other conditions that come with old age, such as high blood pressure, using various medications which are metabolized by the liver and so on.

But, How Does This Negatively Affect Insurance Policies?

Well, life insurance policies are normally approved for healthy individuals that are looking for a safety net for themselves and their families. Being a senior citizen and having a slowly progressive disease like liver cirrhosis can make companies unwilling to cooperate with those types of clients as there are too many unpredictable ways this may go.

For these reasons, life insurance policies for someone with liver cirrhosis is usually denied up front.

But is there a way you can still make sure you are covered even if the conditions are not the best?

Yes, you can.

How to Get Approval?

There is not an easy answer for this, but there are certain things that you can do to better your chances.

Firstly, you need to face the fact that you may not be eligible for a classic life insurance policy. Being of old age and on top of that having a serious health condition lowers your chances greatly, but as we said before there are alternative methods.

However, you can apply for a simplified issue life insurance policy or a guaranteed policy. These kinds of policies, of course, differ from the regular life insurance policies but they are a better fit for someone that is dealing with the issues of liver disease and old age.

Naturally, they will never be as beneficial as a regular policy but they can make your life easier so you do not have to worry about not being covered for the rest of your life.

Simplified Issue Life Insurance for Seniors with Liver Cirrhosis

A simplified issue life insurance policy is a policy which does not require you to undergo a medical exam in order to be approved for it, but it does present you with a health questionnaire.

The questions vary from company to company, but essentially you need to answer questions about your current health status, if you are terminally ill, your height and weight and some of your lifestyle choices (like whether or not you smoke or chew tobacco, do you drink alcohol, etc.).

Now, you may be thinking ”How will this improve my chances?” or ”How does this differ from a direct medical exam?”, and that is understandable.

There are disadvantages that come from this method too.

For example, these types of policies tend to be very expensive, since you are avoiding a major condition in order to be approved. This is a disadvantage because, in the long run, a simplified issue life insurance policy will turn out to cost much more than a regular life insurance policy.

There are also clauses that come with these policies that state that the insurance will not cover a death caused by ”natural causes” which includes diseases such as liver cirrhosis and old age.

But if you are not an eligible candidate for a traditional insurance policy, then paying more money for a policy that will approve you even if you have liver cirrhosis as a senior citizen is still something to consider, because having a safe coverage plan is certainly better than having no plan at all.

Why are These Kinds of Policies So Expensive?

As we mentioned earlier, the number one reason these policies are more expensive than regular ones is the health issue.

Age doesn’t play that big of a role as health status does. Because you are not undergoing a medical exam, and in some cases (such as with a guaranteed policy) are not even answering any health-related questions, you are putting the insurance company in an uncomfortable position.

They are not able to rule out certain risks and cannot be sure if you will make all of your payments.

Because of this, they have to protect themselves too, so they will raise premiums for such life insurance policies.

Now if you are of good health but simply don’t want to give out your medical information, these policies will only cost you a few extra dollars each month. But, if you are an older individual with serious health conditions, your costs, of course, are going to be much higher.

Then again, if you are older and sick, you may want to have an insurance policy which will cover your expenses, bills and take care of your debt after you’ve passed. These are one of the main reasons older individuals choose this kind of policy and usually, it turns out to be a benefit worth paying the extra money for.

Do These Alternative Policies Guarantee Financial Safety?

In the long run, yes. Life insurance policies are amazing because of one main thing and that is to provide your family and/or loved ones a sense of protection and care after you are not around to help them anymore.

These policies are important especially if you are the sole breadwinner of the family and they depend on you. The thing is that you also need to be able to depend on someone or something, and having a good, affordable life insurance policy is the perfect solution to that problem.

You already go through stress thinking about how you can help them because of your condition and you may feel guilty that you are putting a burden on their shoulders.

Getting this kind of life insurance policy will take that stress off of your shoulders while providing your family with the coverage they will need to take care of things if you are no longer able to.

For these kinds of policies you essentially need to fill out only two conditions:
1. You must be a citizen of your country (US).
2. You must be between 40-85 years old.

So, there is definitely a possibility for you to get life insurance no matter what the conditions are and that is certainly a piece of comforting information given the fact that you may be struggling with these issues. It is also worth mentioning that a simplified or guaranteed life insurance policy will grant you total privacy if you are a reserved person. This is because with no medical exam you are not exposing yourself to anything you do not want.

However, we work with seniors over 85 and most of them are in bad health condition. If you are in that age range, visit here.

Final Answer? You Absolutely Have Options!

To sum it all up, you definitely have a variety of options at your disposal. There is no reason why liver cirrhosis and being older should stop you from providing yourself the comfort of a good, solid life insurance plan.

Nowadays, there are ways to secure yourself in every aspect of life. In addition to the methods above, if you really would like a traditional life insurance plan. There are some states that will allow you a traditional life insurance policy as long as you agree to their terms which may include reports of regular check-ups and medical exams.

So, if you are willing to open yourself to that, you might be able to apply for a regular policy as well!

But even if you don’t, a simplified issue life insurance policy or a guaranteed policy can still give you what you need. And yes, unfortunately, it will be for a higher price and with fewer benefits than usual, but it will also give you the privacy and safety that you are looking for.