Years ago I put out lists of criteria for different life insurance impairments, lists that were designed as a template, as guidelines for what it takes to get approved by the more progressive impaired risk life insurance companies. What I’ve found is that it gives hope and direction to those who truly meet those criteria but have run into bad experiences elsewhere and for some it let’s them know what to try to portray when they contact me, a portrayal that won’t stand up to closer scrutiny and absolutely won’t hold up when an underwriter compares the portrayal to the facts that are in your medical records.

People want to be approved for life insurance or get it at lower rates. I get that. My goal for myself has never been any different. I’ve been able to put together the policies that I think will get my wife and I to the point where our assets will out weigh the need for insurance. I will feel like my wife will be fine if I wake up dead one morning. But let’s talk reality. If I felt the need to tweak my portfolio in some way, like get rid of one policy and replace it with another, I can’t. Even though I’m doing great, I had a really rough point in my life about 4 years ago which has left me appropriately not insurable. I don’t meet the criteria on one of my lists and there isn’t any way for me to paint a picture for an underwriter that isn’t going to be nuked by my own records. It sucks to be me in that respect but God willing my plan won’t need tweaking.

So what about these lists? If you have type one diabetes I thought it would be helpful for you to know that underwriting doors are open if:

1. Your age of diagnosis was at least 5, if juvenile onset. The later the onset, the better the approvals can be. Depending on the whole picture occasionally approval with onset before 5.

2. Your control as measured by A1c’s average between 6 and 7.5. Underwriters recognize that especially with type one diabetes lower isn’t always best

3. Your compliance with treatment. You actively monitor and treat your glucose levels. Being on an insulin pump is seen as a positive, but not necessarily better

4. You have not developed any diabetes specific collateral health issues such as kidney problems, or eyesight issues

5. No offers available for children.

So, as a type 1 diabetic you know that if your A1c is 9 or 10 or you are shopping for insurance for your juvenile child, you’ve got some strikes against you. In the case of  children,  3 strikes. But, if you’ve been declined for life insurance and you fit into this list, you know it was a case of using the wrong agent who used the wrong company. It’s not that the risk was too high, but the company used was too conservative.

I have a landing page for people with bipolar disorder offering the same kind of general approval guidelines. Again, there is some wiggle in these guidelines, but over the years between working with underwriters and other impaired risk experts, this criteria can make the difference between someone who has been declined due to bipolar giving up and seeking another avenue, the right agent who has access to the right companies.

Virtually every impairment has companies that won’t approve it and guidelines for determining if the better companies will approve it. If you’ve run headlong into a brick wall in your efforts to get life insurance, call or email me directly. My name is Ed Hinerman. Let’s talk.