Life Insurance for People Suffering From Coronary Heart Disease - The Ultimate Guide

You are suffering from coronary heart disease and you are wondering if it would be a good idea to take out life insurance?

If you’re looking for answers, you’ve come to the right place! You are not alone in this situation, about 2,6 million people are also suffering from coronary heart diseases in the UK.

If you want to get:

the appropriate life insurance cover for your diabete
top tips to pay attention to when applying
medical screening questions example
and indicative quotes

you will find everything you need in the below guide. Let's dive in.

Do I need life insurance if I am suffering from coronary heart disease?

Taking out a life insurance policy when you're suffering from an illness is always a wise decision.

Coronary heart disease (CHD) is the term that describes what happens when your heart's blood supply is blocked or interrupted by a build-up of fatty substances in the coronary arteries.

Coronary heart disease happens when fat and cholesterol from your blood build up over many years inside your artery walls. They form what are called plaques and the process of fat building up is called atherosclerosis. As a plaque forms, this narrows your artery and reduces the blood flow so the result is your heart muscle doesn’t get all the oxygen it needs. And sometimes a plaque may rupture, and a clot can form on top which suddenly blocks your artery completely (causing a heart attack).

Coronary heart disease is a major cause of death in the UK and worldwide. CHD is sometimes called ischaemic heart disease or coronary artery disease.

Can I get life insurance if I am suffering from coronary heart disease?

Although you might find it harder, in most of the cases, you will always be able to get life insurance if you are suffering from coronary heart disease. There are still plenty of providers on the market who will accept to cover you.

The severity of your condition will affect the risk assumptions used by insurance companies to calculate your premium though. As a result, your monthly spending on life insurance is likely to be higher than it would be for the average individual.

Find out more on life insurance with our ultimate guide.

Which kind of life insurance can I apply to?

There are different types of life insurance you can apply to if you are suffering from coronary heart disease.

• Whole of life: whole of life assurance covers you for your entire life, as long as you keep paying the premiums. It's called 'assurance' not 'insurance', and the reason for this is technical. Insurance covers you for a risk that may or may not happen, like a house fire.
• Level term: with a level term life insurance, both your premiums and the sum insured remain the same for the length of the policy. The payout is fixed.
• Decreasing term life insurance: it reduces the sum insured. It’s usually linked with a repayment mortgage and is designed to ensure your mortgage is paid off if you die. As you pay off the amount borrowed, the sum that you need to insure reduces. Payments will stay the same throughout the length of the policy.

How can coronary heart disease affect my life insurance?

Here are the factors that will have an impact on your life insurance:

• Number of arteries affected
• Condition of your arteries
• Severity of your condition
• General health and lifestyle
• Medications being taken

How will my insurance premium be affected If I am a a CHD patient?

Life insurance will generally be more expensive, since insurers consider coronary heart disease to pose an added health risk and increase the chances of a claim being made before the term of the policy (if there is one).

Life insurance for people suffering from coronary heart disease can sometimes be subject to additional underwriting with an increased premium or even declined.

Will my premium increase if my coronary heart disease condition gets worse?

We would recommend a guaranteed premium policy for coronary heart disease life insurance. With that kind of guarantee, your insurer won’t be able to raise your premium, regardless of the evolution of your condition.

How to apply for life insurance covering coronary heart disease?

What questions am I likely to be asked when subscribing to life insurance with coronary heart disease?

As you fill in your application for life insurance, the chosen insurance firm will ask you a list of question to evaluate your condition and estimate what premium you should pay.

You will have to answer honestly and fully to the best of your knowledge. If you omit to mention a specific illness or provide any misleading information, you will encounter issues when making future claims.

With a medical condition, you will be requested to disclose more information. As a person suffering from coronary heart disease, you will generally have to deal with the following questions:

• When was your condition diagnosed?
• Do you know how many coronary arteries vessels are restricted / blocked?
• Has your doctor recommended that you undergo any form of invasive procedure such as Stenting, Angioplasty or Bypass surgery?
• If no : Do you still get chest pain? How often do you get chest pain, please also tell us if it occurs on effort or when you are in a resting state?
• If yes : Please give the anticipated date of the procedure?
• Are you taking any medication for the condition, if so, please give the names of the medication as well as the dosages and how often you need to take this.

Which documents will I need to provide?

Not all life insurance policies involve a medical examination, depending on your age and the amount of life cover you are requesting. However, with a medical history of coronary heart disease, your insurer might request a professional to undertake your medical examination.

Indeed, in order to proceed with your request, the insurer will need proof of your condition, and will likely request that you provide medical documents and tests.

Can I not get covered if I am suffering from coronary heart disease?

You can be denied your life insurance if you are a a CHD patient, particularly if there are aggravating conditions:

• High blood pressure
• High cholesterol
• Drinking too much alcohol

However, you should always be able to find a specialist insurer able to cover you as long as your illness is not terminal.

Does life insurance with critical illness cover is enough for my coronary heart disease?

Coronary heart disease is typically the type of medical conditions that will be covered if you've taken out a life insurance policy covering critical illness.

Critical illness insurance is an extra that can be added to your policy, or can be combined with your standard life insurance. It pays out a tax-free lump sum if you contract a disease. The illness developed must be specified in your policy contract.

Critical illness is defined as an illness that is curable; this is different from terminal illness, where the life expectancy is really low (not more than one year). Terminal illness is usually covered by life insurance.

The most common illnesses covered by critical illness insurance are heart attacks, stroke, non-terminal cancer etc. If you become really ill, your insurance will pay out exactly as if you’ve passed away.

There are two types of cover and it’s important to know the difference:

• additional cover will pay out if you’re diagnosed, and it will also pay out if you die:
• combined cover will pay out either on diagnosis, or if you die, but it won’t pay out twice.

Check out our guide to know more about life insurance with critical illness.