Substantial private term life insurance for T1Ds?

Employer based disability insurance in a lot of cases can be pretty shoddy too… like in my employer policy I’d have to be “unable to perform ANY ‘reasonable occupation’” in order to qualify for the payout… not the occupation that I’ve been doing for 20 years… but ANY… so basically I’d have to be in a coma to qualify

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That definitely varies. I qualify for STD and LTD if I can’t come TO THIS JOB for whatever reason…surgery, injury (on of off the job), whatever.

Back to @ned’s question… (EDIT - I live in Canada FYI)

I have group life insurance through my employer which is 1 x annual salary without a medical questionnaire. My basic benefits package offers 2 x annual salary with a medical questionnaire, but I was rejected because of Type 1 Diabetes - so I am stuck with 1 x salary and I get a small credit every month for not getting the full amount. Work also offers additional life insurance, but… I was rejected.

My previous employer was 2 x salary with a cap above which you needed a medical exam. I was rejected above the cap because of Type 1 diabetes… and no refund or anything :frowning: just less insurance.

I tried to get life insurance through a broker but… rejected because of Type 1. When I asked about paying a higher premium they said - no - we will not insure you.

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I find it extremely sad and frustrating that diabetics have a hard time getting life insurance. :frowning: I believe whether or not you can get insurance should be dependent upon how well you control your disease and how healthy you are as a person. It seems that ALL diabetics are pre-judged as somehow lesser just because you have diabetes. Diabetes, if controlled well, as you ALL prove, makes you no different from anyone without diabetes.

If I qualify for/claim the long term disability benefit, then I can maintain my life policy but the premiums and coverage change a bit. I was just curious if that was similar at your work.

That is really shoddy. It’s a wonder anyone qualifies.

This is so true. I had this discussion with the underwriter who refused my policy when I was a 25 year old dentist forty some odd years ago. He was about 55- and I asked him if he could get life insurance. He said he could. I then pointed out to him that I would certainly live longer than he would, and asked why I couldn’t get insurance. He had no as answer.

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I’m not usually comfortable talking about details like this in a public forum, but since you asked I looked it up.

The Term policy we have (Guaranteed Yearly Renewable Term) was written when my wife and I were in our mid-50’s. For 3million of coverage, we pay a little over $7000 per year for a 20 year term. It can be extended beyond that, but the price per year goes up by a ridiculous amount so it will effectively expire in 20 years. As I said, I had had T1 for decades prior to that, since I was a teenager. My wife has no chronic health conditions, and we both have good weight, lipids, heart rate, BP, no history of smoking, etc. We are therefore in the “Elite plus non-smoker” policy class.

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@jag1, thanks for posting this. It is helpful information, in the future, remember you can always Private Message information you don’t want in the public domain. Personally, I don’t think this is super sensitive information, but how you feel is most important. That is a lot of money, but a good amount of coverage and it extends through the dreaded late 60’s die off. So understandable.

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