After a stroke will life insurance carriers deny me for coverage?
- Written by Victor Vega
- Last updated on May 12, 2021
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Are you curious if you can still get life insurance? In this article I will go over what insurance carriers look at when considering if you should be denied. This way I can help you save a lot of time on getting approved!
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You can absolutely without a doubt get life insurance after you have a stroke!
Many individuals who have had a stroke naturally find themselves asking themselves about this . Yes, you can still get life insurance after both a mini stroke or TIA ( transient ischemic attack), and a CVA (cerebrovascular accident).
As a matter of fact, many stroke survivors never really think about life insurance until after they have had a stroke.
If you are reading this after having a stroke…remember waking up in the morning back at home for the first time after being discharged from the hospital for a stroke?
Remember laying there feeling grateful to have survived a stroke? What a relief!
We will be delighted to provide you with even more relief on the ins and outs of getting you insurance after such a traumatic event in your life. Let’s get into the details.
What types of coverage do insurance carriers offer you after a stroke?
The occurrence of your stroke history is paramount for deciding whether you get graded coverage versus day one coverage.
If you know the difference you will want to skip ahead a little bit if you don’t feel like making sure you understand the difference. If not, let’s spend some time looking at the differences.
Graded coverage is when the death benefit is paid out from day one based on dying from an accident.
During the first two years, most insurance companies pay out 110% of the paid premiums for death due to health issues in a graded policy. Then the full benefit kicks in at the beginning of year 3 for death due to health issues. If you have had a stroke within the past two years, this will most like be what you qualify for.
Day one coverage is also immediate coverage.
Both accidental death and death due to health reasons are paid out at the full benefit amount within the first two years and at any point for the rest of your life.
Usually if your stroke happened over two years ago, you will be just fine in qualifying for day one coverage options. Wait, there’s more to it…
Medication approval tips for stroke survivors
Let’s discuss the list of typical stroke medications that you may or may not by taking and how they impact insurability:
Anticoagulants
- Warfarin (Coumadin,
Jantoven)
Antiplatelet drugs
- Clopidogrel (Plavix)
- Aspirin
Statins
- Atorvastatin (Lipitor)
- Fluvastatin (Lescol)
- Lovastatin (Altoprev)
- PItavastatin (Livalo)
- Pravastatin (Pravachol)
- Rosuvastatin (Crestor)
- Simvastatin (Zocor)
Insurers tend to be wary of anticoagulants, but not completely.
Warfarin has done such a good job of preventing sticky platelets that 
some people have had serious bleeding side effects and this scared insurers away.
Antiplatelets are not so scary, insurers are more tolerable of these. Statins too, they are very common with cholesterol prescriptions so insurers look at them as pretty normal.
You can pretty much get day one coverage with any one of these, even Warfarin. Certain combinations will make you a better fit for graded coverage.
Another factor to take note of is, are you consistently filling your prescriptions? 
Insurers like to favor the kind of applicant who consistently fills their prescriptions. Who doesn’t?
Is someone giving you a hard time to take your pills because they love you? Well good! It’ll keep you around longer, and it’ll get you cheaper rates on insurance too!
Do you require assistance after a stroke ?
A common way to word one of the more typical life insurance application questions worth mentioning in this instance would be:
Residuals in stroke patients can still allow you to be qualified for a graded insurance policy. So answering yes to this question does not preclude you from being insured.
Need a Nursing home or home health care after a stroke?
Insurance companies tend to also ask if you are in a nursing home or receiving home health care. These factors typically lead to graded plans.
What kind of life insurance should I get after a stroke?
Final expense burial and/or funeral whole life insurance can be perfect for you – regardless of whether or not you get immediate day one coverage. 
You want to enjoy your life after surviving a stroke, and if you can then you should!
Imagine if you start to travel the world. One thing that comes up is will you be covered by your insurance policy then?
Can I get travel insurance after a stroke?
Yes. The best part is
, you do not have to purchase travel insurance to be covered when you travel. Final expense burial and/or funeral whole life insurance can provide benefits to your loved ones- even if you are travelling overseas.
Does that make it a travel policy for someone who has had a stroke? Insurance companies will flat out deny the benefits if you are overseas too long or become a resident overseas.
Also, foreign death certificates can be difficult to obtain and/or difficult for American insurers to process.
Does this mean you are putting your family at risk if you travel overseas after having a stroke? No, have a plan in place to make sure you are covered. Where do you start with this “plan”?
First, consider if you are travelling to countries that are underdeveloped or not on the “safe list”. Insurers look at your destination to determine if you took too much risk to give them a reason to void the benefit.
Also, how long are you out of the United States for in the calendar year that you die?
Try to make sure the majority of any year was spent in America and not overseas.
Before you leave on your trip, locate and contact a foreign doctor’s office and ask about treating you, and ask about the death certificate process so that you can de-risk your beneficiaries and your insurance provider…especially your insurance provider.
They want to know you are thinking ahead with your intention to remain a low risk insured applicant by having a treatment plan in place for a temporary stay overseas. Also how frequently you move from one place to another could raise a red flag.
Conclusion
So how do you put all this together? Contact your agent and make plans to reach out together to the insurance company to understand how your plans may impact your continued insurability well ahead of you making any flight/hotel reservations. This way you can achieve big savings and have a blast on your trip while sleeping well at night knowing you are covered!
The goal for you after a stroke is to get immediate day one coverage that will cover death due to health reasons so that you can have peace of mind just in case. Did we leave any questions that you have unanswered? Is our information wrong in this article? Leave a comment below and let us know!
About the author
Victor Vega has over a decade of experience in working with individuals regarding their personal finances after starting in 2007 at Merrill Lynch as a financial advisor. I started Garden Mutual in 2020 so that you could have access to a life insurance agent that puts your interests first! As an independent agent, I work with over 10 carriers. This means that my loyalty is to my customer and not any one particular insurance company . Let me provide you with objective information that you can use to pick the best life insurance policy for yourself today. We are always looking to improve ourselves for your benefit!
If there are any problems with the information in this article would it be ridiculous to let us know in the comment section below?
Email me at info@gardenmutual.com or call me at 908-388-4916.
