Life Insurance for Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetics: A Simple (But Complete) Guide
- Written by Victor Vega
- Last updated on May 12, 2021
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After helping a few diabetic applicants today sign up for life insurance, I couldn’t resist from doing a lot of research about their common concern – they all said to me that they thought they could not get life insurance because of their type 1 or type 2 diabetes.
In this article I will not only reveal that it is possible to get life insurance for diabetics, but I will give you an inside look at what the application process is like. Also, I will offer valuable suggestions on how to get your life insurance application approved!
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Is it possible to get life insurance for diabetics?
Yes absolutely! Actually, it’s pretty easy to get life insurance for applicants with diabetes.
This is a common question I get from applicants. It seems to be a common concern that diabetics have. they tell me they thought they would never get approved for getting life insurance.
Will diabetes life insurance quotes cost more than without diabetes?
Life insurance for diabetes type 1 and diabetes type 2 can raise the cost at many insurance carriers, but not all of them. 
It’s not impossible to get approved for competitive rates as if you didn’t have diabetes.
To be specific, each of us has a very unique 5 year health history and unique prescription history that allows us to get competitive rates with different insurance carriers. This doesn’t have to be complicated .
Match your 5 year health history and your current health conditions along with your prescription list with a carrier that will approve you! That’s what we here to help you do over the phone!
How about getting approved for no medical check life insurance?
Some carriers approve non medical exam applications for applicants within 20 minutes after submission of the application, 
and some approve non medical exam applicants within 2 business days.
Overall, it doesn’t take long to find out if you are approved with non medical exams.
The application can be completed by mail, fax , or electronically. Completing the application doesn’t take much longer than 5-10 minutes. The applications are usually 4-5 pages in length.
You can expect the sections to be broken down into personal information, medical background questions, payment instructions, and permission to do a medical/ prescription background check.
How does it work with life insurance medical exam companies?
With medical exam applications, getting approved can take up to 4-6 weeks. Expect to spend 10-15 minutes applying over 10-15 pages. The extra section is usually dedicated to setting up the paramedic exam to withdraw blood and urine.
Also, some carriers will want to know the cause of death if/how your siblings/parents died and at what age. Your family history is used by carriers mostly to increase your premium rather than approve/deny you.
So please 
don’t worry about if your family history can cause you to be denied. A denial due to family history would be very unlikely. An increase in the rate you will pay for insurance is a common scenario that I see based on things like for example; parents/siblings being deceased before the age of 70 due to cancer or a heart attack. Rest assured, we can still get you covered at a competitive rate if this applies to you!
Cheaper rates are usually obtained when you take a medical exam to get a policy versus a non medical exam policy. The savings can be substantial.
What does being approved look like when getting life insurance with diabetes?
Applicants can understand what is required to get approved 
by looking at their applications through the lense of the insurance carrier.
Please review the following factors that are required to be submitted for consideration. This list is pretty much applicable to every insurance company when considering a history of type 1 or type 2 diabetes.
- Height and weight (each insurance carrier has different requirements)
- A1C levels (Insurance companies never really say what the exact level needs to be. A safe level to have as a goal to be approved is under 7. each insurance carrier has different maximum a1c levels that they’ll accept. Some will take higer than 7 and some require lower than 7.
- prescriptions( even ones that you dont take but you were prescribed in the past 6 months unless your doctor replaced the prescription ). Each carrier has a list of prescriptions that they use to automatically decline applicants
- All medical conditions over the past 5 years
- No history of neuropathy
Is there guaranteed approval life insurance for diabetics?
Yes there is. You will be happy to know that you have a lot of control over substantially improving the probability that you get approved. If insurance carriers are not getting an applicant immediate coverage, then we can always get applicants guaranteed issue life insurance.
Here are a few things that you can do that will both improve your overall health as well as tilt the odds in your favor.
Try intermittent fasting before your exam.
For a medical exam application you will be asked to avoid eating or drinking anything at least 6 hours prior to your exam.
For Diabetics, intermittent fasting for a few days before your exam can substantially lower your A1C levels as well improve how you feel overall! Intermittent fasting is generally good for all of us. You are probably already aware of how you should managed your diet.
Fasting in addition to dieting is the closest thing to a silver bullet strategy. Don’t forget to have at least 7 hours of uninterrupted sleep as often as you can prior to your exam.
For non medical exam applicants the key is to make sure you are filling your prescriptions. The prescription check and MIB check will be favorable if they show that you take your medications like you are prescribed to.
Not smoking for at least 12 months or more tends to lower a quote substantially. So, if you stopped smoking for less than 12 months prior to applying, it will increase your quote. If you are a smoker, then definitely whip out your favorite ways to stop smoking for as long as possible before your exam.
If you are applying for a non medical exam, it may be too late to get a lower quote. However, you will always be able to look for better quotes 12 months or more from now.
I have found that many applicants are happy after we sign up because they thought the process of applying would be much more complicated than this.
Conclusion
If you or someone you know has diabetes, should that be a reason to raise the price of life insurance?
I have found that approved quotes tend to be a lot cheaper than applicants initially thought before speaking with me. What if you can freely shop the market between multiple companies all at once so that you can see what the best price is?
Even if you already have insurance, would it be silly to at least take 30 seconds to get a quick quote using the form on the right? Take a quick look and see what you could get. Let us know what you think in the comments below or contact us anytime.
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.
