Life Insurance with Barrett’s Esophagus: Tips To Being Approved

Last Updated: June 2020

Obtaining life insurance with Barrett’s Esophagus may be considered high-risk life insurance and yes, likely you will pay slightly more for your coverage but overall, obtaining life insurance with Barrett’s Esophagus is relatively easy to do.

We’ve helped dozens of our clients secure life insurance with Barrett’s Esophagus and even lower the rates for people with current policies.

The rest of this brief article is meant to break down what you can expect when you apply for life insurance with Barrett’s Esophagus and the potential monthly premiums you can expect to pay.

More specifically, we intend to touch on the following topics related to Barret’s Esophagus and Life Insurance:

• Underwriting: What Life Insurance Companies Will Ask About Your Health with Barrett’s Esophagus
• Recent Barrett’s Esophagus Case Studies We’ve Helped Obtain Life Insurance
• Obtaining Life Insurance With Barretts Oesophagus Is 100% Possible

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Underwriting: What Life Insurance Companies Will Ask About Your Health with Barrett’s Esophagus

The key to finding the lowest life insurance rates with Barrett’s Esophagus is finding the company that will look most favorable at your individual risk.

Barrett’s Esophagus is underwritten differently for each person.

Life insurance underwriters will be looking at a lot of different factors, including what contributed to getting your Barrett’s Esophagus:

• More common in people over 50 (if diagnosed under age 50, it poses more of a concern to underwriters)
• Family history of Barrett’s Esophagus
• Long-standing history of GERD?
• Esophageal ulceration of stricture
• Scleroderma?
• Smoking and alcohol use history?

Here’s what we need to know in order to give you an accurate quote.

• Age diagnosed
• Tobacco use history
• Results and dates of endoscopies and biopsies (underwriters want to see you’re actively monitoring it)
• Medications and treatments
• Any other underlying health issues?

It may seem like we’re asking a lot of personal health information, but it is absolutely necessary in order to provide an accurate quote.

Barrett’s Esophagus life insurance underwriting can be a bit tricky. We’ll do our best to explain it here.

You’ll need to understand what “table ratings” are first, or else you won’t understand what we explain below.

In a nutshell, they’re an additional charge on top of the Standard health classification.

Each table is usually around Standard + 25% (depends on the company).

For example, Table 3 would be Standard rates + 75%. Table 6 rates would be Standard + 150% and so on.

With that said, Barrett’s Esophagus life insurance underwriting will be categorized into 2 categories:

Dysplasia history and No Dysplasia.

No Dysplasia

• Short segment, no symptoms, and on treatment will be a Standard to Table 2 range.
• Long segment, no symptoms, and on treatment (with at least 2 biopsies) will be a Standard to Table 4 range depending on the damage.

Dysplasia History

• Low-Grade dysplasia that’s been resolved with a minimum of 2 endoscopies with biopsies will depend on the length of time it’s been resolved. If it’s been over 2 years, you can expect Table 2 ratings (although we’ve seen some “Standard” ratings recently). If it’s been under 2 years, expect Table 4 ratings.
• High-Grade dysplasia will restrict you to a graded death benefit policy.

The key to affordable life insurance rates with a dysplasia history is to figure out which carrier will give you a table rating instead of a flat extra (flat extra’s will be more expensive).

We know which companies offer table ratings and will shop your case to those life insurance companies.

You’ll need to show consistent follow-up in the form of biopsies and endoscopies.

Underwriters don’t feel comfortable making offers without knowing you’re actively staying on top of your Barrett’s.

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Recent Barrett’s Esophagus Case Studies We’ve Helped Obtain Life Insurance

Case Study #1

Male, age 63, non-smoker. Barrett’s Esophagus initially diagnosed 4 years ago: long segment, no dysplasia on biopsies.

Had a follow-up endoscopy 2 years ago and still showed short-segment Barrett’s but no dyspepsia. Takes Nexium as his only medication.

We were able to secure standard rates! Our client was thrilled.

Case Study #2

Female, age 44, Smoker. EGD 6 years ago showed short-segment Barrett’s and pathology showed low-grade dysplasia. Repeat EGD 5 years ago showed short-segment Barrett’s, but no dysplasia.

Repeat EGD’s 3 years ago and last year showed no evidence of Barrett’s or dysplasia.

We shopped this to over 25 life insurance companies and secured a Table 2 Tobacco health classification.

It’s important to note that some carriers declined and others added flat extra’s to make it very expensive. Again, our client was ecstatic with the result!

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Obtaining Life Insurance With Barretts Oesophagus Is 100% Possible

We’ve helped many people with Barrett’s Esophagus find affordable life insurance rates.

The key to all of this is finding the life insurance company that will give you the most favorable rates and that’s what we do for you.

Even if you have a life insurance policy in place, it’s likely we can lower your rates just by leveraging our knowledge and experience in underwriting this risk.

Please don’t hesitate to contact us with any questions.