life Insurance
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AnonymousFebruary 16, 2010 at 6:52 pm
Has anyone been able to get life insurance after being diagnosed with CIDP. Since being out of my company for over a year I am being dropped from the group life insurance and now need to find a personal policy. I’m in good health other than the CIDP.
Thanks,
Mark -
Not likely, unless you pay a high premium. We have a friend with crohns who was able to get 1 million for 25K a year. Once you reach a certain age, there are companies through aarp that take you no matter what, but the price is high and amount low. Prudent investing might be the best way to go.
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AnonymousFebruary 17, 2010 at 12:23 am
I very much doubt it, too many variables come with this illness. Even something as simple as regular infusions, one of our members got infected at his IV site & became septic & died. When my husband retired over 3 years now at age 55, he had no health problems at all, on no meds, his weight was low, non-smoker all his life, non-drinker, etc. but was almost denied because his dad had died of a heart attack at age 65. His dad had always been overweight, a smoker, liked his alcohol,…. absolutely no correlation, but he almost didn’t get it. BTW we pay $91 a month for $300,000 so it definitely pays to get it when you are young.
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AnonymousFebruary 17, 2010 at 11:16 am
[QUOTE=Dawn Kevies mom] Once you reach a certain age, there are companies through aarp that take you no matter what, but the price is high and amount low. Prudent investing might be the best way to go.[/QUOTE]
[I]Absolutely agree, though investing, too, could be a problem in that available funds could be in serious peril if one is having to already pay a high premium just to get health insurance. [/I]
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AnonymousFebruary 17, 2010 at 2:35 pm
I’ve noticed this, as a result not of my neuropathy, but because of another chronic illness. Also, after my cervical surgery, I was told by a friend/agent that I’d never be approved. Even taking Lipitor for cholesterol will make you ineligible, I’m told. The economy is taking its’ toll on the insurance agencies, as well, it appears. Not that they were ever a shining example of honor and decency, in my humble opinion.
Best bet, IMO, is if you’re still able to work, find an employer that offers a “multiple of salary” type life insurance. Even that, though, isn’t assured. My employer offers up to 2x salary at no cost; up to 5x if you can pass a physical/medical history review, which I doubt anyone here would.
I’m stuck paying the ever-increasing premiums on a term policy. Premium was locked for the first ten year at $40 a month for $250k; now that I’m past the ten years…I’m up to $149 per month for $250k. And it will continue to go up every year; but, I have no other options besides hiding it in the mattress! :rolleyes:
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AnonymousFebruary 17, 2010 at 3:10 pm
That was the only good thing about a slow diagnosis. I wanted to re-up what I had, so I did it right after my lumbar surgery. Although I was having CIDP problems(I didn’t know) and I was not diagnosed at the time. My policy went through OK. PA insurance has two years to contest the application for medical reasons.
thankfully made it past that.Before I tested for HNPP (hereditary neuropathy) the doctor advised me that I won’t be able to get a life plan if I test positive. I told him I had just signed a policy a year prior. He wanted me to consider not having the test for the reason that my daughter would become a hi risk to insure as well if I go + on HNPP. Alot of good that does me without an HNPP test Eh!–tim–
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AnonymousFebruary 17, 2010 at 3:57 pm
That’s a great point, Tim. Part of my problems were the result of “family history”…heart attacks on my Dad’s side and cancer/rheumatoid arthritis on my mom’s.
Bad thing is now I get to feel guilty for possibly making it more difficult for my daughters. “If it’s not one thing, it’s a dozen!” 🙂
Elmo
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AnonymousFebruary 24, 2010 at 10:35 pm
Through my husband’s work we have $30K on Emily. We were told she would not get approved for any other life insurance – which really sucks when a kid get sick at 4 years old.
We plan on buying bonds for her. We have asked family to buy bonds for Christmas & birthdays too. That way she’ll have a little something put away for when she needs it.
I was told bonds are the safe way to invest. That’s where Suze Orman has all of her money.
Kelly
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AnonymousFebruary 25, 2010 at 10:09 am
I was offered the option to continue my employer group life insurance on my own when I stopped working there. You might want to check with your employer to see if that is an option. It was more expensive. If so, you would want to make sure they couldn’t cancel you later on for health reasons (automatically renewable, I think it is called).
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Life Insurance
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AnonymousFebruary 26, 2007 at 7:55 pm
Has anyone been declined for life insurance with GBS or CIDP being cited as the reason?
I was a bit surprised when I received a letter from my insurance company this weekend stating that my life insurance application had been declined. Last winter I had GBS and this fall was diagnosed with CIDP. GBS being an acute condition definitely shouldn’t be a reason and every neuro I’ve ever talked to has said that CIDP “isn’t something that you die from.”
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AnonymousFebruary 27, 2007 at 1:32 am
My husband who is 55 & has absolutely no health issues, except having had a back surgery over a year ago, just went through this process. It took almost five months from the time of his physical last summer with them to finally get approved. Then the underwriter was going to deny him because of his occupation (a blaster for the mining companies here.) Fortunately by then he had already retired!
When our son was born with spina bifida, it was always impossible for us to get life insurance for him as well, even though he should have a normal life expectancy. I am glad I was able to keep my life insurance policy from my last employer after I came down with CIDP, as I know I would never get any now. There are just too many issues involed with these illnesses, & let’s face it, when they issue a policy to someone, they hope they will never have to actually pay out any money.
It is not true that you cannot die from CIDP, as if one has the progressive form & is unable to stop the attack on the nerves, eventually it can destroy the nerves in the respiratory system. Also, with so many procedures done on an ongoing basis, or hospital stays, one could develop infections that could cause pneumonia or even death. Not to sound pesimistic, but I can’t believe what we had to go through for my husband to get it.
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AnonymousFebruary 27, 2007 at 4:16 pm
Actually you shouldn’t be too surprised-you can get gbs and die from it as well as die from cidp. i can’t get life insurance either because i have the relapsing/remitting type of gbs, good thing i had it in place for over 15 years now, there is something to be said for when you look ahead and plan for the worst scenario in life. don’t give up, and i would suggest you read the fine print of all policies. take care.
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AnonymousFebruary 27, 2007 at 5:09 pm
I might have to retire early – not sure yet – from teaching. I think of going back and being exposed to all those germs from the children – I teach in a middle school. If I get supplementary health insurance, how do they know my health past? Since I had GBS twice but was not hospitalized either time – will this make is easier for me to get it? THey don’t know how bad I got the second time – crawling on the floor. For all they know, I was not hospitalized and did not spend any of their money. Any ideas?
As for life insurance, I was told that unless you have a family and lots of bills, it is not a good idea. So I just saved my money and plan to be cremated. I like what they do in the British ISles. I read that they have a park for endangered animals where people are buried – but not in those hideous coffins. If you know what happens to the remains inside them, you wouldn’t waste your money.
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AnonymousFebruary 27, 2007 at 5:59 pm
[B][COLOR=”SeaGreen”]Underwriting for Insurance products has become more strict in the past 10 to 15 years. Insurance Companies want to provide the cheapest rates for unrated people and they do not want to take risks on patients who may have an illness that increases their chances of dying.
Life Insurance is bad, but Disability Insurance is even worse.
The best solution is that if you are working and your employer offers you a Life Insurance benefit is to take it as the Insurer usually doesn’t do medicals and has to insure everyone who signs up.[/COLOR][/B]
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AnonymousFebruary 28, 2007 at 10:37 am
My employer had me covered with disability insurance. We would not be able to survive without it! It is not much but it makes the difference (more than SSD). Also, I had my car payments covered with disability and it was immediately paid off in full. Thankfully, I still have my life insurance inforce also.
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AnonymousMarch 1, 2007 at 8:12 am
My husband farms and I work part time so we have always carried our own insurance. Very costly. Our policy went up, again, a year after I’d been diagnosed with GBS-not ‘because’ I was DX. We started looking for a new carrier and I was denied for life insurance. We are currently looking for a new policy for the 2 of us and someone suggested Blue Cross/Blue Sheild. We’ve done all the question and answers with the provider, we have our fingers crossed. Still waiting to see if I’ll be accepted. I, too, am in good health except for the residuals. Problem we may have is when they read what meds I use. We’ll see.
Good luck to the rest of you looking for health care policies. Maybe we need a new president that will address this.
JayDee
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