It’s well-known that all insurance products calculate their premiums based on risk, and this can strike fear into the minds of many people who are diagnosed with diabetes. After all, this disease often leads to heart problems, blindness, and other complications that might indicate to an insurance agency that a life insurance buyer is a high-risk applicant who should be charged a top rate. That, however, is an overly simplistic way to look at term life insurance. There are, in fact, many ways to save money and go with a cheaper life insurance policy even as someone who has been diagnosed with diabetes in their recent medical past.

Take Control of the Situation and Be Proactive About the Diagnosis

Diabetes can easily spiral out of control if those who are diagnosed with the disease don’t take immediate, effective, and dramatic steps to control their blood sugar and keep things healthy. Failure to do this can lead to complications that go so far as blindness, heart problems, kidney disease, and the loss of vital limbs. Those are things that will factor into the cost of life insurance, and companies can respond quite negatively.

But there are actually plenty of positives when it comes to securing a term life insurance policy as a sufferer of diabetes. Virtually every term life insurance company will look at a potential policyholder’s medical records over the past several years in order to see how well they’ve managed their blood sugar. They also take in consideration the type of diabetes you have. If they’ve managed to control their intake of these sugars, and their approach has kept them relatively healthy and in great shape, then they’ll be classified as one of the lowest-risk diabetes sufferers the company serves. Life insurance quotes for type 2 diabetics will differ to those who are diagnosed type 1. That can help make up for the elevated risk associated with the disease and it can help diabetes sufferers get really great rates on term life insurance coverage.

Understanding How Life Insurance Premiums are Assessed

Just like car insurance policies, those companies offering a term life insurance product want to look at the prior record of every person they’re insuring. They look for patterns of healthy behavior, good decision making, and effective treatment, and they use those things to assess risk and policy prices. Generally, those applicants looking for a term life insurance policy are placed into one of four groups, based on how they’ve handled their health. This grouping indicates the future risk to the life insurance company going forward, and it’s broken down like this:

1. Preferred Plus applicants
2. Preferred applicants
3. Standard applicants
4. Substandard applicants

These four groupings are relatively straightforward, with the healthiest and most conscientious individuals being placed in the top group, with decreasing status and recognition as health conditions and habits get progressively worse. It’s much the same way that car insurance policies, and even medical insurance policies, are decided by major agencies. Those diabetics who have shown a consistent reputation for managing their blood sugar and A1C hemoglobin levels well, will find themselves in the preferred or standard categories.

Older applicants who were diagnosed pretty late in life with diabetes might even find themselves in the preferred plus category. That category is typically reserved for the healthiest or lowest-risk individuals but, in the case of older diabetes sufferers, their late onset of the disease actually lowers their risk quite a bit when compared to those who are diagnosed at a much younger age.

Getting the Best Price on Coverage: Comparing is Akin to Saving

Health conditions that affect a policy’s premium amount can hardly ever be changed and, when they can, the difference may not be noticeable in the final amount of a term life insurance policy. One thing that can be evaluated and changed on a continual basis is the company with which an individual is insured. Like any insurance product, the key to getting the best policy at the best price is to comparison shop between the major providers of term life insurance policies. Some companies are much more competitive than others, and Banner Life Insurance Company is known to offer people with diabetes the cheapest quotes on term life insurance. Companies, including Banner Life, will still look at other aspects of your life when determining your rate. If you are a diabetic who smokes or chews tobacco life insurance for you will be more expensive. Combine that with diabetes and you may find yourself getting quotes you can not afford. It is important to maintain a healthy life style. If you have diabetes or any other medical condition quit smoking cigarettes or smokeless tobacco.

Comparison shopping should not be thought of as a major inconvenience, especially in an era of online shopping and digital shopping carts. Indeed, getting quotes from multiple life insurance companies is now as easy as filling out a single form and submitting the relevant information to multiple insurers at one time. Those insurance agencies will evaluate the data in real time and return a quote based on the information submitted by a customer. The customer will then have a chance to view and evaluate the data and, in some cases, will be able to start the coverage sign up process immediately for free.

Attention to Detail is the Key to Financial Savings

Paying attention to detail in both the doctor’s office and during the comparison shopping process, is the key to getting a great deal on coverage. Living a proactive lifestyle, and taking control of a diabetes diagnosis, is the key to lowering any risk associated with the disease and qualifying for a great rate on high risk coverage. When combined with comparison shopping via an online multi-company quote, there are lots of ways to save without sacrificing levels of life insurance coverage for the benefit of loved ones.

Mozdex Insurance Advisors have helped thousands of families secure their futures with proper insurance planning since 1997.