Prostate Cancer Still Getting Good News From Life Insurers!

I’ve been told that all guys will get prostate cancer to some degree if they live to a moderately old age. The good news that, for many, it will have little or no impact on their lives or their mortality.

Prostate cancer that is slow growing, that is to say a low stage and grade, is quite often not treated in older men, but rather just monitored. If it ever does become more aggressive or dangerous then treatment can start and because it will be caught early in its’ aggressiveness, the treatment would likely be successful.

But let’s talk about the rest of us guys. There really is good news when it comes to prostate cancer and life insurance for the majority of cancer survivors. Especially if you get annual checkups (health fairs are great for this) prostate cancer can often be detected while it is still a very beatable illness.

If a prostate cancer is a stage T1 or T2, and a Gleason grade of no more than six (this is the majority of cases), and the psa at the time of diagnosis was less than 10 (this again is the majority of cases) better than standard rates should be attainable within a year after a prostatectomy and within two years after a radioactive seed implant. The underwriting guideline at that point would be that if they took the prostate out, your psa needs to be 0, and if they did a seed implant it needs to be .5 or less.

When you start talking about better than standard rates after cancer, that is not the norm. Getting those rates within a year or two would be completely unheard of with other types of cancer. And the key is early detection. A small price to pay for protecting your life, let alone your ability to purchase life insurance.

Bottom line. Us guys are famous for not going to the doctor when we should. Regular physicals, while I’ve heard that as high as 50% get them, really aren’t the norm. I think the guys that responded to that survey are counting every time they see the doctor for a cold and get their blood pressure taken. This is one of the reasons that women outlive us and pay less for life insurance. So get serious about your health. Go to that health fair. See your doctor for something other than your annual cold sympathy visit.