High Cholesterol and Affordable Life Insurance Over 50 Years of Age

If you have high cholesterol you are certainly not alone.

Approximately 95 Million American adults currently have high cholesterol. This means their total cholesterol levels are 240 mg/dL and higher.

That’s the bad news.

The good news is that it is possible to get approved for the best rates a life insurance company offers even if you are in your fifties, sixties, or seventies, and have been diagnosed with high cholesterol.

But here’s the catch..

You must be proactive about your health and your cholesterol must be under control.

In fact, if your cholesterol is under control you can possibly qualify for preferred plus rates, even if you are taking cholesterol medication.

In this article you will learn what rates you are likely to qualify for if you have high cholesterol.  You will also learn how the application process works and what to expect.

What Rates Can I Expect To Qualify For With High Cholesterol?

First things first…

Know that each life insurance company has different underwriting guidelines.

Also, these guidelines do change from time to time.

Having said that let’s look at some general guidelines if you are in your 50’s or older and have high cholesterol:

  • Preferred Plus Non Tobacco requires total cholesterol levels below 300 with a 4.5 HDL ratio.  At least one company will accept a 5.0 HDL ratio with a total cholesterol of 215 or less. Preferred plus is the best rating class available with the lowest premiums.
  • Preferred Non Tobacco requires total cholesterol up to 300 with a maximum 5.5.  At least one company will accept a ration as high as 7.0.
  • Standard Plus is for cholesterol numbers similar to preferred, but will be considered standard plus instead of other health factors are not as favorable.
  • Standard Non Tobacco is for total cholesterol of 300 and ratio maximum of 8.0

How Can I Get Lower Rates Even Though I’m Over 50 and Have High Cholesterol?

The rates an insurance company can approve you for depend only  in part on your high cholesterol.

In helping to underwrite your application an insurance company will look at several things including the following criteria.

Ideally they want you to meet at least 3 of the 7 below.  Obviously, the more the better though.

Cholesterol ratio of 4.05 or lower

Underwriters figure out your cholesterol ratio by dividing your total cholesterol by your HDL number. The HDL is considered your “good” cholesterol number.

For example, let’s say you have a total cholesterol of 205.  We divide it by your HDL of 65.  As a result the cholesterol ratio equals 3.15.

Solid family history

Insurance companies always look at your family medical history to assess your risk.

So, if both of your parents lived to the age of 75 or older, and your siblings never had cancer or cardiovascular disease before age 60, then this will work in your favor.

Normal cardiac function

If you had normal results on a cardiac test within the last two years, this will be looked at favorably. Cardiac tests such as echocardiogram, stress test, or CT angiogram will qualify.

NT Pro BnP under 100

NT Pro BnP is a protein your heart produces when you are experiencing heart failure. The higher your NT Pro BnP test is then the more damaged your heart is.

The insurance company wants to see a healthy NT Pro BnP level under 100 to consider giving you the underwriting credit.

GGT level below 30

GGT is an enzyme in the liver that will become elevated if the liver is diseased.

It can also be used to identify alcohol abuse. If your GGT is below 30, this indicates that your liver is healthy.

No tobacco use

Not using tobacco for over 12 months will put you into the “non-tobacco” premium range.

This is already a great savings considering tobacco users usually pay double the rate or more.

In many cases, no tobacco use for the past 5 – 10 years can drastically lower your premiums even more.

Healthy lifestyle

You do all that you can to keep in shape and eat right. Your annual checkups prove you are in excellent health besides your elevated cholesterol.

Again, it’s about being proactive about your health.  It’s the old diet and exercise.

This effort can go a long way in helping you to qualify for lower rates.

The Application Process for Life Insurance Over 50 Years of Age With High Cholesterol

By now you should know that buying cheap life insurance over 50 years of age with high cholesterol is a real possibility.

So let’s look at how the application process works.

First, life insurers will review the normal details of your lifestyle and medical history:

  • Your current age
  • Your height and current weight
  • Your age when diagnosed with high cholesterol
  • Medications you take to treat your high cholesterol
  • Whether you are compliant with your high cholesterol medications
  • Whether you regularly see your doctor for check-ups
  • Your most recent blood pressure readings to see if you have high blood pressure.
  • Whether you experienced any hospital visits in the last 12 months and why
  • Whether you used tobacco in the last 12 months
  • What your general health is and if you have any history of other chronic illnesses
  • Review your lifestyle for any risky hobbies or activities

Depending on the type of the insurance company and the type of product you apply for, you will have to do a medical exam unless you specifically apply for a no exam life insurance policy.

The insurance company may also want to review your medical records which will reveal everything going on in your medical history.

The fact of the matter is that having high cholesterol should not stop you from getting affordable life insurance protection.

Being over 50 years of age and having high cholesterol is not unusual. And complying with any medication you are prescribed for high cholesterol will make your life insurance application more appealing.

Understand that I am not minimizing the seriousness of having high cholesterol.

Individuals with high total cholesterol have twice the risk of heart disease as their peers.

Heart disease is the leading cause of death in American men and women.

High cholesterol may be inherited from your family, a result of poor diet & physical inactivity, or even your advancing age.

I work with dozens of highly rated insurance companies willing to offer quality life insurance coverage to individuals in their 50’s and beyond that have high cholesterol.

This is especially the case if as I mentioned already you are being proactive about your health and doing what you can do to keep you high cholesterol under control.

What Type of Life Insurance Can I Get Over Age 50 With High Cholesterol?

This is simple.

The fact is you have the same choices as everyone else purchasing life insurance. Being over age 50 with high cholesterol is really not that big of a deal.

Again, as long as it’s controlled.

If you have high cholesterol and are not taking any proactive steps to control it you could actually be declined for coverage.

Typically I only see this happen when people refuse to go to the doctor or refuse the treatment that is prescribed for them.

The two main types of life insurance coverage include term and permanent life insurance.

Permanent life insurance plans include whole life and universal life.

Permanent life coverage will remain in place for your entire lifetime as long as the required premium is paid. Depending on the design of the policy the premiums will stay the same and the face amount will not change.

A term life insurance plan will only last for the term you select such as 10, 20, or 30 years.

Both permanent and term life insurance plans offer coverages as low as $25,000 on up.  Some specific final expense plans will offer coverage for as low as $5,000.

I can help you determine the type of coverage you need and the amount.

Then I can explain the various plan choices available to you and give you the pros of cons of each.

What’s The Next Step?

As you tell by reading this article, having been diagnosed with high cholesterol is not the end of the world when trying to obtain quality life insurance coverage.

Just make sure you take care of your overall health and keep up with your medications if you need to take them.

If you do so then securing cheap life insurance in your fifties and beyond is very attainable.

I will go over all this before submitting an application to an insurance company.

I want to make sure we submit your application to the insurance company that is going to look at your medical history most favorably.

Let me help.

Give me a call me today and let’s get started.  Your family will thank you.