There isn’t any question that given the clear choice between suffering a potentially fatal heart attack and having the artery opening procedure called angioplasty, the prudent thing to do is to stack the deck in your favor and open those arteries.
But there is a serious question about the use of angioplasty as a preventive measure. In other words, if you are not in imminent danger of a heart attack and arteries that have begun to clog are treatable with medicine, is the risk of an invasive procedure still prudent and reasonable. Recent studies have shown that there appears to be enough inappropriate recommendations for the procedure that the American Heart Association and others will be releasing new guidelines within a few months regarding when an angioplasty should be set aside for treatment through cholesterol lowering and clot busting drugs combined with exercise.
Medically this is a huge issue. From a life insurance standpoint it can make the difference after the diagnosis of how soon a person can get life insurance and how much they will pay. If a person is found to have blockage that is successfully treated medically and those results can be substantiated on a subsequent stress test they could be looking at standard rates, possibly better, within six months. If they have an angioplasty, whether it was needed or not, it will be at least a year and a good stress test and then the rates will generally be higher than standard rates.
The good news is that, given a good stress test, either way you would be insurable. The bad news is that an over zealous doctor might do more damage than just handing you a large cardiologist’s bill.
Bottom line. Second opinion, second opinion, second opinion……unless you are having a heart attack.
November 17th, 2008
Still fresh in my mind is the story a client related to me about her experience of being declined for life insurance due to bipolar disorder. This was news to her since she didn’t have bipolar disorder.
In talking through the situation with her she did bring up the fact that she was treated for ongoing depression with the drug Lamictal. Lamictal has several uses, but because of the magic of television advertising, probably the best known is its’ use for bipolar disorder. It isn’t mentioned in the ads, but it is also commonly used for seizure disorders and, lo and behold, depression.
The decline from this company came without ever requesting medical records. There was a leap of assumption on the part of the underwriter that this client had put down depression, but the problem was really bipolar disorder and this leap of assumption was based solely on the medication. We shopped this case for her and detailed everything up front including what the other company had done and we were able to get her an approved policy at standard rates, a fair rate given her history of depression.
The knee jerk reaction from the majority of life insurance companies when it comes to depression, anxiety disorders and bipolar disorder is unfortunate. A large percentage of these folks are wearing the sign and taking the medication and leading normal lives. They hold down jobs, have healthy family and community lives, don’t sit around thinking about suicide, aren’t in and out of hospitals, comply with their treatment programs and in general are no more of a mortality risk than the average person that doesn’t have one of these issues or at least hasn’t been diagnosed with it yet.
A little friendly advice if you happen to be part of one of these groups and need life insurance. First, don’t go to your State Farm agent (or whoever handles your auto and homeowners). Those companies are licensed to sell life insurance but it is definitely not what they’re good at and the agent is licensed to sell the product, but they have no training in how to find you fair underwriting for your issue.
Second, don’t go to the big online insurance agencies. They are volume shops and writing a policy for someone with say, bipolar disorder, takes some time and doesn’t fit into their style of doing business. You are going to clog up their well oiled machine and while they might find you an approval, it’s not likely to be the best one out there for you.
Third, do find an independent agent who has a background and track record in dealing with your particular issue. You’ll know when you talk to them because we ask questions that will tip you off to the fact that we’ve been there before. We won’t just take down minimal information and run quotes for you. We’ll take a lot of information and then take the time to shop it for you.
Bottom line. Take heart! While the majority of life insurance companies are very conservative and would prefer to skirt around the whole issue of mood disorders, there are 15-20 companies out there that really have their head screwed on right and know how to fairly underwrite your case.
November 17th, 2008
