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What to Look For in an Insurance Agent if You Have Diabetes

The biggest red flag to watch for when applying for life insurance is an agent that, when told you have diabetes, either doesn’t know what questions to ask, or simply says you are uninsurable.

The most common thing will be the agent who doesn’t know what to ask. This exposes inexperience and will almost assure that you won’t get professional representation to the folks that make the decision, the underwriters.

The mention of diabetes should bring a string of questions.

  1. Is it type 1 or type 2 diabetes?
  2. At what age were you diagnosed?
  3. How often do you self monitor your glucose levels?
  4. How often does your doctor do a full blood workup and when was the most recent?
  5. At your most recent checkup what was your A1c level? Is that higher or lower than the previous checkup?
  6. What were your lipid profile results? Total cholesterol, HDL, LDL?
  7. What was your blood pressure?
  8. If you have type 1, how many units of insulin are you taking daily? Are you taking medications for anything else?
  9. If you have type 2, what medications are you taking for diabetes? Are you taking medications for anything else?
  10. Have you had any collateral issues such as high blood pressure, cardiac issues, neuropathy, retinopathy, etc?

 

These are the questions that an agent should know to ask. Just as importantly these are the questions that you should be able to answer. Can you answer them all? If not, take the list to the doctor with you next time and find out. Also ask your doctor for a copy of the lab results every time they are done.

What should you look for in an insurance agent? How about someone who is knowledgeable enough about your health problem to be able to intelligently discuss your situation with you and with the underwriter that will be reviewing your case? Not a bad place to start!

 

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