Questions to Ask When Buying a Diabetes Life Insurance Policy

Last Updated on November 15, 2024

When you decide it’s time to purchase life insurance, you’ll probably have a few life insurance questions to ask about coverage, policy types, and whether or not you’re likely to be approved for your desired policy. Having diabetes, you’ll want to ask more questions than a person who does not have a chronic illness and might even think a lot about what questions to ask when buying life insurance.

Asking these life insurance questions is extremely important. The outcome will determine your status of approval, your monthly premiums, and the extent of financial protection and preparedness that your family will receive in the event of a loss.

Taking a proactive approach to alleviating what could be a huge financial burden is an admirable gesture – one that will bring you peace in knowing that even if you’re not present, your family will be financially stable.

We also want to point out that when searching for life insurance information with Diabetes, you’ll often times come across ‘fake’ or inaccurate information.  Because of this, Diabetes Life Solutions has become the only online resource for the Diabetes community, that only provides REAL and ACCURATE life insurance information.  Please do not let any agents or websites trick you with inaccurate quotes. Prepare what questions to ask before buying life insurance.

In order to receive honest information, you’ll need to provide basic Diabetes and other health related information to us.  You can do this through email, or by calling an agent at 888-629-3064. These calls generally only take 5 minutes.  We like to remind people that generally you will NOT receive Standard Plus, Preferred, nor Preferred Plus offers from insurance companies.  However, you’ll see these fake quotes offered on a variety of websites.

If you’re having trouble deciding what life insurance questions you need to ask before settling on what the best diabetes life insurance policy is, don’t fret. We’ve compiled a list of the most important questions to ask a life insurance company when purchasing life insurance so that you feel confident in your decision.

Will Having a Pre-Existing Condition Affect My Eligibility?

The short and simple answer to this question is yes. However, while your pre-existing medical condition will most likely influence your approval and premium in some way, the level to which your medical condition affects your policy and eligibility is entirely dependent on the severity of your condition, how well it is managed, your prognosis, and the amount of liability that the insurance company is willing to assume.

If your condition is well managed and you are otherwise healthy, it is likely that the policy underwriters will deem you eligible for the policy of your choice, at a slightly higher premium than individuals that do not have a medical condition.

If your medical condition is not well managed and you are in poor overall health, you may be denied for coverage for most whole life policies and term life insurance options.

Regardless of your health standing, there is usually a policy option for everyone, and it is worth the peace of mind to secure a policy if you can afford to do so.

One option for people who are in poor overall health is guaranteed issue life insurance policies. These policies accept everybody, and there are no health questions.

What Information Should I Provide?

Having Diabetes makes applying for life insurance a little more difficult, compared to non-diabetics. Ideally, you will want to provide key diabetes history information, to an agent to receive a real and accurate quote. Here is a list of life insurance questions, an agent should be asking you:

What questions do life insurance companies ask?

• Current Age
• Age first diagnosed with Diabetes
• Type of Diabetes you have
• Current medications, if any, being prescribed to help control your diabetes
• Any use of Diabetes technology such as a CGM or insulin pump?
• Most recent A1C and glucose readings. ( if known)
• Any diabetic complications?
• Do you watch your diet?
• How often do you test your blood sugar
• Do you exercise regularly ?
• List any other medications currently taking outside of Diabetes medications
• Do you see an Endocrinologist?
• List of any major health issues such as Cancer, heart attacks, strokes, HIV, sleep apnea, depression, anxiety etc.
• Any use of tobacco products within the last year?
• What is your current height and weight?

These are the answers to what questions do life insurance companies ask.

If you receive a quote from any agent or website without supplying this information, the quotes will be fake and not reflective of your health profile.

Do I have to Get a Physical Exam?

Unless you’ve chosen a no medical exam life insurance policy, you should expect to be required to receive a physical exam – complete with routine blood work, and additional urine test.

A paramedical exam consists of a nurse meeting you at your house or place of business. The examination will consist of the nurse taking your height, weight, and blood and urine sample. They will also ask basic health history questions. Your agent can provide you the sample questions to help you prepare for it. The entire appointment should take about 20 minutes.

The urine and blood samples are sent to an independent lab, where the results are ultimately shared with you, and the insurance company.

The life insurance company will then use this information to determine how well your condition has been managed and whether or not they are willing to assume liability and grant you a policy. The results will also influence your premium amount. 

We also do work with multiple life insurance providers who can waive the blood and urine exam for you.  Instead, they’ll simply review the last three to five years worth of your medical records.  Your health information will ultimately determine your final rates.  So if you prefer not to meet with an examiner, and undergo additional testing, we would be able to accomodate you without any issues.

No Medical Exam Life Insurance Options

If you prefer to go with a policy that doesn’t require an exam, you would most likely have term life insurance or whole life insurance options available to you.

Type 1 Diabetics won’t have as MANY no medical exam options compared to people with Type 2 Diabetes, but will have options none the less.

The type of coverage you need, amount of diabetic life insurance, and your diabetes history will all determine what exact options you’ll have. Simply contact us, and an agent would be more than happy to provide you with the options you would have available to you. Here are some questions to ask a life insurance company.

What Riders Should I Consider?

Life insurance riders could be a very valuable option, you can add to your policy. Usually, we recommend getting an approval from a company first, and then speaking with us about the available riders.

Many riders allow you to access part of the death benefit while you are living, if diagnosed with chronic, critical, or a terminal illness.

Having a policy with these types of riders would help your family out, if you needed to access the death benefit after being diagnosed with an illness.

Living benefit riders have become extremely popular over the last few years.  We personally recommend taking out a policy with these added benefits as they may come in handy in the future to you and your family.

Or maybe you’d need a rider to pay for your policy, should you become disabled. Just speak with our agents, and let us help you determine what life insurance riders are best for you!!!

Should I Consider the Companies AM Best Rating?

Absolutely! There are plenty of A rated or higher life insurance companies that are diabetic friendly. Your agent can always provide the financial rating for various companies. Or you can quickly look them up on the internet. You always want to feel comfortable about the financial position your life insurance provider is in.

Do I Need to Work with an Independent Agent?

YES!!! Especially since you have Diabetes, you need to work with an agent who represents several companies. Not only that, you need to work with an agent or agency WHO ONLY works with the diabetes community. Speak with a qualified independent life insurance agent at Diabetes Life Solutions.

Many websites claim they specialize in working with diabetics, but upon further review, they also claim the specialize in working with people with heart disease, cancer history, or other health issues.

These agents are generalists, and not specialists.

If you have Type 1 Diabetes, do you see an Endocrinologist, or just a physician to help you with your Diabetes?

Diabetes Life Solutions was created by people with Diabetes, to provide life insurance advice to the diabetes community. This is all we do . Put our expertise to work for you and your family.

There are many ‘captive’ insurance companies such as State Farm, New York Life, and Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company.  These are excellent insurance companies.  However, when it comes to underwriting people with Diabetes they simply are NOT competitive in pricing.  In many cases, their rates may be 25% to 50% higher than other life insurance companies.

Because of this, we highly recommend working with agents who have access to a wide range of life insurance providers.  Finding the best policy may save you thousands of dollars over the lifetime of the policy.

How Much Life Insurance Coverage Do I Need?

How much life insurance coverage you need is dependent on what finances you will need remedied or replaced in the event of the passing of the policyholder.

When deciding how much coverage your family will need, be sure to account for debts (to include mortgage, car payments, loans and credit cards), monthly payments, and lost wages. Totaling these amounts will help you better visualize exactly how much coverage you will need.

Some financial experts recommend a minimum of TEN times your annual salary, and to have enough coverage to help raise your children, send them to college, and to allow for your spouse to maintain current qualify of life.

Here’s some good news that many people are not aware of.  Certain life insurance companies will allow you to reduce the amount of your policy in the future.  If choosing to decrease the amount of coverage, your premiums will also be reduced.  Having a policy that’s flexible in lowering it’s death benefit may serve you well in the future.

Will My Permanent Insurance Policy Generate Cash Value?

Whether or not your policy will generate cash value depends on the policy type. Term life insurance policies build no cash value, they simply guarantee payout of the death benefit should the policyholder pass while holding the policy. Whole life insurance is the policy type that builds valuable cash value – a benefit that you can utilize while living if needed. Also an indexed universal life policy could be an option.

These policies are less expensive compared to a whole life insurance policy. Many of our diabetic clients tend to prefer a policy like this.

To find out whether you need a permanent life insurance product, that accumulates cash value, simply speak with one of our agents. You may only need a permanent product, that only provides a permanent death benefit.

Can I Retain Coverage Indefinitely?

If you’ve chosen a whole life policy, or some type of universal life insurance, you can retain coverage for as long as you continue to pay the premiums. If you’ve chosen a term life insurance policy, you will only retain coverage for the duration of the agreed upon term.

Understanding why you should have a life insurance policy in place is the first part of the decision. Knowing which type of policy to hold and what life insurance questions to ask about those policies is the second. You will always want to work with an agent who stays in touch, and offers reviews of your life insurance portfolio.

As your life changes, so should your life insurance portfolio. Being young, generally a term life policy would be ideal. As you get older, you might want to consider permanent coverage.

These are some questions to ask before buying life insurance that help you choose the right plan for yourself.

Don’t let all of this be confusing! Just call us at 888-629-3064. Our agents are here to help you, and make the process of obtaining life insurance as easy as possible. We will help you identify what questions to ask when buying life insurance. We’ll answer your questions, and we’ll help you with determining what life insurance companies are best for your situation.

Since we are the only agency that ONLY works with people with Diabetes we’ll be able to help you find the best policy for your family.