Getting life insurance can be difficult for people with disabilities. In some cases, a person with a life-threatening disability can be charged a much higher premium. But there are many companies that specialize in offering life insurance for people with disabilities. There is now more opportunity than ever for people with disabilities to find a life insurance policy that will work for them.

Life insurance and the Americans with Disabilities Act

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) specified that people with disabilities cannot be denied certain services. However, since disabilities can affect your overall health and life expectancy, life insurance companies are allowed to consider your disability when determining how much life insurance to offer you and what to charge for your premium.

How a disability can affect your premium

Each life insurance company has a different system for evaluating your level of risk. They will evaluate you on an individual basis to determine how your disability impacts your life and overall health. They will also take into consideration other factors like your income, your lifestyle, and your health history.
If your disability doesn’t affect your life expectancy, it might not increase your premium at all. If it does, then you can look into life insurance policies that are specifically for people with disabilities that are considered high risk. “High risk” means the insurance company considers your disability to put you at more risk to die than someone without your disability.

Policies for people with high-risk disabilities

Guaranteed-issue life insurance:
This is a whole life insurance policy that does not require a medical exam but is often more expensive and has limits on how much of a death benefit your beneficiary can receive when you die.
Impaired-risk life insurance:
This type of insurance is for people considered high risk — those with disabilities that negatively affect overall health or life expectancy. It is often for people who have been told they do not qualify for other types of life insurance policies.
Group life insurance:
This is a policy that you get from your employer that does not take into consideration any personal information about you, including health problems or disabilities. Usually, the death benefits are not as high.
Visit eHealth for life insurance options.