How to Get Life Insurance with Pre-Existing Conditions

It is often difficult to find an insurance company to offer you life insurance when you have a pre-existing condition. Pre-existing medical conditions make you a high risk for the insurance company, so they'll be less than willing to offer coverage. It is possible to get life insurance with a pre-existing condition, however, if you follow the proper steps and do your research before you apply.

Use an Experienced Agent
Your best bet in getting life insurance with a pre-existing condition is if you use an insurance agent who is experienced in "impaired risk" cases. Since you present a higher risk to the insurance company than someone without any medical conditions, you'll need to find a professional who has accomplished the task before and who can present your case in the most favorable light.

Gather All Documents
Before you start applying for life insurance, start compiling all documents that demonstrate your pre-existing medical conditions. You'll need to make a full disclosure that includes the names of the diseases or disorders with which you've been diagnosed as well as the medications or treatments you are currently taking. You'll want to list specific dosages of medications (i.e. 50mg) and you will also need a list of all of the medical professionals who have treated you in the last 7-10 years. This might be difficult to find, so give yourself enough time to go through records. Place all information in a file folder and make two or three copies.

Create a Health Summary
You'll also want to have a summary of your health up until this point. Positive aspects of your health should be emphasized, such as "never drink" or "quit smoking twenty years ago" or "jog three miles daily". You don't need to include diseases or disorders from which you have fully recovered (i.e. cured) because they won't be considered when you file your application. However, you do need to include information for diseases or disorders that are in remission or no longer produce symptoms if you haven't been cured.

Disclose the Nature of Accidents
You'll also want to give a summary of any major accidents you've had in your adult life. If there are no long-standing effects of those accidents, they don't need to go on your application, but if you still have metal screws in your leg or a plate in your skull or rods in your wrist, you should definitely include it.

Choose Aggressive Underwriters
In the main, small, young, aggressive companies are the best to pursue when it comes to getting life insurance with pre-existing conditions. You should apply to at least two companies -- preferably three or four -- and make sure that you take any medical tests that are required for each. You or your insurance agent should research life insurance providers to find the ones that will be most likely to give you an offer.

Prepare for Your Exam
In order to be given an offer for life insurance, you'll need to submit to a medical exam by one of the company's approved doctors. If possible, have your exam scheduled early in the day so that you're awake and alert, and avoid high doses of caffeine or sugar in the twelve hours before your exam.