The idea of gastric bypass surgery has often come in our forum when talking about the impact that obesity has on health and life insurance rates. The truth is that morbid obesity is so very hard on just about every part of a person’s health, that it just can’t be ignored and my personal opinion is that if it can’t be brought under control through diet and exercise, more drastic measures should be taken. You simply can’t afford to remain morbidly obese for too long.
I ran across a success story that I wanted to share. This, in words and pictures, tells of one person’s struggle with weight and their victory with gastric bypass.
From a life insurance standpoint, the most prudent choice would be to put life insurance in force even accepting the extra premium that goes with the weight. Lower rates are on the horizon, but generally companies will want to see at least one to two years of stable weight after the loss that occurs post bypass.
Bottom line. The human body is a magnificent, resilient thing, but it will eventually break down in the face of abuse. Whether that is smoking, drinking or eating yourself into poor health, the time will come.
My brother-in-law has recently taken a new job selling insurance. We had dinner with them this evening. He told me a shocking statement that I needed someone else to explore. He stated once a person has a gastric bypass, and that person would need to change insurance companies for whatever reason(job change, etc), other insurance companies will not issue insurance to that person. Is this true, or just true where or live. This sounds incredulous, after hearing all the local success stories about reduced BG levels, weight loss, BP stabilizing, etc.
Thank you.
Your brother would be correct, but only for a short period of time after the surgery. Two factors delay the reward. First, there are health dangers during the surgery and during the rapid weight loss. Companies would postpone offering coverage during that period. Then the second challenge is a track record of weight loss stability when a person reaches their plateau. Most companies will want to see at least a year of stability.
Working through those things usually takes a few years and during that period a person is better off to stick with what they have. After that period there are great gains and rewards from a life insurance standpoint no matter where you live. Where you live isn’t the key. The key is what agent and companies you use.
The success stories are true and lower insurance rates can follow.