Asthma is a growing problem not just in the United States but around the globe and as the incidence of asthma increases its beginning to become a growing concern for life insurance companies as well. The major concern becomes one related to asthma-related deaths, especially in adults under the age of 65. Don’t be fooled: asthma is a very serious (and possibly deadly) problem for anyone who suffers from it. If you happen to suffer from asthma don’t be discouraged from thinking you can’t find affordable life insurance. You absolutely can.As with any insurance, it is very important to keep paperwork and/or company name available to your beneficiaries when the time arises. It is as simple as registering on a life insurance database to guarantee this information will never get lost and become a lost life insurance policy.Any healthy adult looking for an insurance policy should definitely shop around for the best or most beneficial policy or premiums. The same is certainly true of asthma sufferers. Why would it be any different? The issue for asthma sufferers becomes one of how often they’ve been plagued with asthma-related issues, the severity of their condition and how well they’ve been able to manage their condition with medication or through a doctor’s orders. Premiums for asthma sufferers may be lower if: they have a low incidence of wheezing, shortness of breath and other symptoms
their asthma doesn’t affect their sleep
their asthma isn’t interfering in their work or school schedules
they aren’t hindered when exercising or in other physical activity
a low or no occurrence of asthma induced hospital or emergency room visits
regularly taking their physician prescribed medicationWhen applying for your life insurance policy, the insurer is going to want a full workup of your pulmonary tests (including a peak flow meter reading) to see how well you’re breathing. This type of information is what assists the insurance company in the underwriting process to determine the amount of risk your policy might represent and what risk category you’ll fall into when it comes time to determine your premiums.It is also in your favor if it’s been a longer time between serious bouts of asthma attacks. If the last attacks were serious enough for you to seek medical help then you’ll need to wait a longer time to find a lower premium. In fact, the longer it’s been between serious attacks the more likely you are to find better rates and an affordable insurance policy. Insurance providers also look out for asthma sufferers who have more frequent attacks, even if they aren’t as severe. To the underwriters this type of situation might mean the treatments aren’t as effective or are even failing. As part of the underwriting process, the insurance company also needs to see a list of your current medications. If you’re taking many medicines for your asthma you might be concerned it’s going to cause you to be uninsurable or to pay out the nose for your premiums. Actually, what they’re really looking for is how well you’re responding to the treatments you’re receiving. Hold off on applying for any policy if you’ve recently changed your medicines around; a year or two delay is going to give them a better picture of how well you’ve responded to your new treatments.
