Life Insurance

april1964

Hello!I am in my sixties and have no life insurance. My husband has stage 4 stomach cancer and also has no life insurance. We have one child, a daughter. Question: does anyone know if it is too late for me to buy life insurance? Will my having had breast cancer get in the way of being approved? Thank you!!

FindingOptimism

I don’t know all the underwriting rules but I think it might depend on when your diagnosis was as to what rating you might receive. I would imagine that the further out from your diagnosis and treatment you are the better your options would be. I would suggest working with an agent to determine what type of coverage you would qualify for.

MelissaDallas

You may not qualify until a certain number of years out from treatment, and even then you may be charged considerably more. Any “guaranteed acceptance” whole life insurance is very expensive per $1000 of coverage and may pay a reduced benefit for some years. You might well do better to just put a certain sum of money into a savings or investment vehicle every month. Term life is much cheaper if you qualify.

As to whether you even need life insurance at this point would depend on a lot of things. Many people in their fifties do not, especially if their kids are out of school and self supporting.

MinusTwo

I agree - it's problematic if you can get insurance with out a HUGE cost at this point.

If you are in your sixties, is your daughter grown & self-supporting? Personally I would be taking whatever funds your can scrape together and either putting them in savings &/or investing them for your own future or for your daughter - not buying insurance. I know, I know - the interest rate if abominable, but still...

april1964

thank you all!! I’m starting to think that getting life insurance at this point in time is not the best idea...

AliceBastable

My parents didn't have life insurance once my sister and I were grown. They saved and bought CDs instead, plus some bank accounts. I've got one small policy that's been following me around since I was a kid, but nothing else. Hubby has one through his work, but I think it will disappear when he retires, like mine did.

What my Mom did was put my name or my sister's on the CDs and bank accounts and designated them as Pay on Death. That way, we only had to show her death certificate, and the money wasn't counted as an estate asset, so no probate with just her small old house. It was easier for her AND us, and the money stayed available for her if she'd needed it for anything up until her death.

MelissaDallas

If you are thinking of this as a gift to your child, the money is better saved or invested. As a beneficiary of an IRA it can even pass to the child outside probate. Also, people have misconceptions about their debts. In general, unless your child is a cosigner, your kids don’t become responsible for any debts you incurred during your life when you die. If there is not enough money in the estate, they just don’t get paid.

mtspacekace

Side note for anyone thinking about getting life insurance. Remember: You must have a life insurance policy in effect before doing genetic testing, or you will be denied a life insurance policy.

MinusTwo

mtspace - Question - do you mean "Might Not" be able to get insurance depending on the findings? Or "absolutely can't" get insurance just because you ordered the test?

MelissaDallas

MinusTwo. There is no absolute. Depends on the particular company’s underwriting guidelines. Also, how much family history they request in their application ties in to this. Most applications over a certain dollar amount they order your medical records.

mtspacekace

I guess if you got the testing done and found nothing wrong, there wouldn’t be any higher risk for the insurance company.

IMO: It seems silly to get the testing done without life insurance in place, knowing that IF something was found, you would be denied. Of course, there may be a company that would insure you...it would just cost more money.

When I went in to get my genetic testing done, because of my cancer diagnosis at a young age, my genetic counselor told me that if life insurance wasn’t in place before testing, I would be denied coverage after. Luckily...I had just recently finished my life insurance and gotten a policy a month before I found out I had breast cancer.