Life Insurance

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catfish_58
catfish_58 Member Posts: 138 Member
in Head and Neck Cancer #1

As a cancer survivor do we have a life insurance we are able to get or will all life insurance companies provide us with insurance?Was thinking that as of the end of this month i'll be 1 year post and wanted to try to purchase extra life insurance,hopefully not needing it for a long time just something for peace of mind.

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  • CivilMatt
    CivilMatt Member Posts: 4,722 Member
    #2
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    peace of mind

     

    Catfish_58,

    Mine is still active, although I hope my wife doesn’t need to cash in too soon.

    Maybe, the insurance company will make a trade one PET/CT scan for an increase in coverage.

    Watch a little Forensic Files for tip offs to life insurance.

    Matt

     

  • Tim6003
    Tim6003 Member Posts: 1,514 Member
    #3
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    CivilMatt said:

    peace of mind

     

    Catfish_58,

    Mine is still active, although I hope my wife doesn’t need to cash in too soon.

    Maybe, the insurance company will make a trade one PET/CT scan for an increase in coverage.

    Watch a little Forensic Files for tip offs to life insurance.

    Matt

     

    Hi Catfish

    I had life insurance  before diagnoses, after treatments I asked if I could get more, they said I have to show five years clear UNLESS they put a special rider on their that would pay on death provided death was not due to cancer....

     

    Every company is different, so check on it and ask around.  I have been able to pick up extra accidental death insurance..my wife asked me why I did that ...I joking tell her if I ever get a recurrence that is going take me out, I will just "accidently" fall off a cliff while hunting :)

     

    Best,

     

    Tim

  • longtermsurvivor
    longtermsurvivor Member Posts: 1,842 Member
    #4
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    this is a tough problem

    My bet is you won't find anyone to sell you more life insurance when you are one year out.  I certainly couldn't, and not at two years, nor three, nor for many.  I finally bought a bunch of life insurance (actually sold as mortgage insurance, but it is really life insurance) after TEN years had gone by.  Lucky for my wife, because at 11 years I had a second cancer, and the rest is future history.    If you find anything but this, please come back and post it.  tough problem.

     

    Pat

  • Guzzle
    Guzzle Member Posts: 710
    #5
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    longtermsurvivor said:

    this is a tough problem

    My bet is you won't find anyone to sell you more life insurance when you are one year out.  I certainly couldn't, and not at two years, nor three, nor for many.  I finally bought a bunch of life insurance (actually sold as mortgage insurance, but it is really life insurance) after TEN years had gone by.  Lucky for my wife, because at 11 years I had a second cancer, and the rest is future history.    If you find anything but this, please come back and post it.  tough problem.

     

    Pat

    Insurance

    Pat good to hear from you mate. The UK may be a bit different but I have critical illness / life cover. The critical illness will pay mortgage off. I think the company are obliged to carry on the life cover at same rate. Where we get rinsed is holiday cover. People in the US are more likely to take a vacation there because it is vast. In the UK we are more likely to holiday in a different country often within Europe. Distances are less and flights cheap. You can take the train from London to Paris/Brussels in just over two hours. As a result we need holiday insurance as most people in UK use NHS and don't need cover. NHS provide care free at point of use for any visitors but insurance is needed to get patients home if required. It seems an unregulated insurance industry will simply rely on a risk matrix and not practice corporate social responsibility towards cancer survivors. In lucky and only have 3 years to go for a public sector pension having served 27 years. My heart gos out to those who have to worry about looking after families and horse trading with insurance companies when effort should be directed towards getting well. G.

  • KB56
    KB56 Member Posts: 318 Member
    #6
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    Life insurance

    Catfish, I had a 10 year term policy with a locked rate for those 10 years.   My cancer was diagnosed last April and guess what, that was the month and year my 10 year lock expired ( how do they know:))!  this time last year I had no idea what was going to happen so I paid the 10x increase and started treatment. Fast forward a year and my rate took another big jump and I'm doing much better today and feel much more confident about my future prospects.   I am going to let that one expire as the annual premium jumps every year from here out to some numbers that are really big.  

    I caled the company to see what my options might be and talked to my agent.  Bottom line, we are pretty uninsurable for life insurance the next few years.   The agent was very helpful and I still have another term policy through my work and he suggested I contact them to see if there is a conversion privilege if I leave my current employer and there actually is with my policy.  I will keep that one but let my bigger one with the 10 year lock expire as those premiums have gotten crazy. 

    Good luck as you look but I think you'll find what I said above  

    Keith

  • Guzzle
    Guzzle Member Posts: 710
    #7
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    KB56 said:

    Life insurance

    Catfish, I had a 10 year term policy with a locked rate for those 10 years.   My cancer was diagnosed last April and guess what, that was the month and year my 10 year lock expired ( how do they know:))!  this time last year I had no idea what was going to happen so I paid the 10x increase and started treatment. Fast forward a year and my rate took another big jump and I'm doing much better today and feel much more confident about my future prospects.   I am going to let that one expire as the annual premium jumps every year from here out to some numbers that are really big.  

    I caled the company to see what my options might be and talked to my agent.  Bottom line, we are pretty uninsurable for life insurance the next few years.   The agent was very helpful and I still have another term policy through my work and he suggested I contact them to see if there is a conversion privilege if I leave my current employer and there actually is with my policy.  I will keep that one but let my bigger one with the 10 year lock expire as those premiums have gotten crazy. 

    Good luck as you look but I think you'll find what I said above  

    Keith

    Uninsurables!

    Keith, could this become our ironic collective name! You never did find out what a dalek was. Sorry for all of your insurance troubles. I suspect that if I tried to obtain fresh insurance I would be in exactly the same position. My brother is a lawyer who litigates largely against insurance firms on behalf of motorists and other consumers. He believes a lot of them to be a rather unscrupulous lot. His mantra is always read the small print! G.

  • donfoo
    donfoo Member Posts: 1,771 Member
    #8
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    longtermsurvivor said:

    this is a tough problem

    My bet is you won't find anyone to sell you more life insurance when you are one year out.  I certainly couldn't, and not at two years, nor three, nor for many.  I finally bought a bunch of life insurance (actually sold as mortgage insurance, but it is really life insurance) after TEN years had gone by.  Lucky for my wife, because at 11 years I had a second cancer, and the rest is future history.    If you find anything but this, please come back and post it.  tough problem.

     

    Pat

    in the US, save your energy...

    I've not personally bothered even looking at life insurance being not even a year post. But you only need elementary math to look at the general prognosis charts and come up with premiums that are off the chart in order for the insurance company to remain in business.

    I recently started a new job and one of the benefits was group life insurance and if selected when you join you do not have to have a medical qualfication. Any change to that later or wanting to sign up triggers a medical certification which means DENIED for us. One way to get it I guess is to swap jobs to one where scuh a benefit is available,

  • Hondo
    Hondo Member Posts: 6,636 Member
    #9
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    Hi Catfish

    About a year after my first cancer I was able to get a 20 years term life policy for my wife. I had to pay just a little more but I believe it was worth it just to have the peace of mind that it is there in case anything’s happens. I hope you find what you are looking for, if not send me a massage and I will look an see who my policy it through and you can give them a call.

     

    Tim Hondo

  • katenorwood
    katenorwood Member Posts: 1,912
    #10
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    Hello Catfish !

    I looked into life insurance here in Mn.  I lost my job and am on SSDI.  One thing my previous employer didn't mention is that I could have kept my life insurance if I would have kept up premiums.  (by office staff I was told I couldn't)  So this is something people should consider if they find themselves in this position.  Also through private insurers I haven't found one that will even consider taking me.  I think I'm eligible for AARP now, and will check into what they offer.  I browsed through a few of their pamphlets and it looks like you need to be cancer free for two yrs. before they would pay face value.  Best of luck sent !  Katie 

  • catfish_58
    catfish_58 Member Posts: 138 Member
    #11
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    life insurance

    Well I did check on a few and was told basically that after 1 year of being cancer free I was eligible for life insurance and that the premiums are sky rocket high,tho after 5 years was probably the best time to look at it then as the premiums would be much lower,I do have insurance with my current job its not much but it'll have to do for now,Had great insurance with my previous job of about 25 years but after obama care kicked in it kicked me in the rear,but soon maybe that'll be over,Anyhow's thanks for the info's

        Chris (catfish_58)

  • donfoo
    donfoo Member Posts: 1,771 Member
    #12
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    catfish_58 said:

    life insurance

    Well I did check on a few and was told basically that after 1 year of being cancer free I was eligible for life insurance and that the premiums are sky rocket high,tho after 5 years was probably the best time to look at it then as the premiums would be much lower,I do have insurance with my current job its not much but it'll have to do for now,Had great insurance with my previous job of about 25 years but after obama care kicked in it kicked me in the rear,but soon maybe that'll be over,Anyhow's thanks for the info's

        Chris (catfish_58)

    "self-insure"

    For those not able to find affordable life insurance or those finding it but at very high premiums, one other option is to save that premium each month. I would be very much plan to check the balance in twelve months. At those "sky high" rates, it would be quite a tidy sum. And you will have a huge grin on your face that is your money, not theirs. An alternative to not doing anything for some.

  • Guzzle
    Guzzle Member Posts: 710
    #13
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    donfoo said:

    "self-insure"

    For those not able to find affordable life insurance or those finding it but at very high premiums, one other option is to save that premium each month. I would be very much plan to check the balance in twelve months. At those "sky high" rates, it would be quite a tidy sum. And you will have a huge grin on your face that is your money, not theirs. An alternative to not doing anything for some.

    Creative

    Don a typically innovative solution my friend. Regards, G. (just had another curry. Treating each as last!)

  • osmotar
    osmotar Member Posts: 1,006
    #14
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    Insurance

    I have a life insurance policy thru my company that is effect sinice 2000, so i had coverage when diagnosed in 2011...my company however doesn't have short term disability but we had the opportunity to pick up AFLAC , so I opted for short term , and a few other options ..however I can't get their cancer policy until I'm 5 yrs cancer free, plus  there were certain options once the  box was checked  yes for cancer disqualified me..however I'm more than satisfied with the coverage I have with them. 

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