Can a Life Insurance Company Cancel My Policy If My Health Gets Worse?

No. Once your life insurance policy is properly in force, an insurance company generally cannot cancel it or raise your scheduled premium simply because your health gets worse. With level term insurance, your premium is locked in for the guaranteed term period. With traditional whole life, the scheduled premium is designed to remain level for life. The important thing is keeping your policy in force by making the required payments.

This is one of the greatest protections life insurance gives you.

You buy the policy based on your health today.

The insurance company evaluates your application.

It decides whether to accept you.

Once the company issues the coverage and the policy is properly in force, it doesn't get to keep reconsidering that decision every time something changes with your health.

You could develop diabetes.

You could have a heart attack.

You could be diagnosed with cancer.

You could develop COPD.

Your health could be completely different ten years from now.

That doesn't ordinarily give the insurance company the right to cancel your properly maintained policy simply because it wishes it hadn't insured you.

That's one of the reasons getting life insurance before you need it is so valuable.

In Short

• Your health is evaluated when you apply for medically underwritten life insurance.
• Once the policy is properly in force, getting sick does not ordinarily allow the company to cancel it.
• The company doesn't get to make you answer health questions every year to keep an ordinary term or whole life policy.
• With level term, the scheduled premium stays level for the guaranteed term period.
• With traditional whole life, the scheduled premium does not increase because you get older or your health deteriorates.
• IULs work differently, but changes in the funding required to maintain an IUL relate to the policy's financial mechanics, not simply because your health became worse.
• Allowing a policy to lapse is different. Reinstating lapsed coverage may give the insurer an opportunity to consider your current health again.

What Happens If I Get Sick After Buying Life Insurance?

Usually, nothing happens to your existing coverage simply because you got sick.

That's the beauty of having insurance already in place.

Suppose you buy a whole life policy today.

Five years from now, you're diagnosed with cancer.

You don't call the insurance company and reapply.

You don't have another medical interview simply because of the diagnosis.

You don't have to qualify for the policy again each year.

You already have life insurance.

As long as you satisfy the requirements for keeping the policy in force, the later cancer diagnosis does not ordinarily allow the insurer to simply cancel the policy.

What If I Have a Heart Attack?

The same principle applies.

A heart attack can make obtaining new life insurance more difficult.

But having a heart attack doesn't ordinarily allow an insurer to cancel an existing policy that is properly in force.

That's a very important distinction.

Before the heart attack, you may have qualified for immediate coverage at an excellent price.

Afterward, your options for buying additional coverage might be different.

But the policy you already own remains enormously valuable.

That's another reason we encourage people to purchase coverage while they're younger and healthier rather than waiting until something happens.

What If I Develop Cancer?

Again, the existing policy is generally unaffected simply because your health deteriorates.

A new cancer diagnosis could significantly change which companies would accept you for a new policy.

It does not ordinarily allow the company that already insured you to say:

"You're too sick now. We're canceling your coverage."

That's not how properly maintained life insurance is designed to work.

Can You Get Life Insurance If You Have Cancer?

Can the Company Raise My Price Because My Health Gets Worse?

With traditional level term and whole life coverage, the answer is generally no.

Your premium isn't recalculated every year based on your current medical condition.

For level term insurance, your scheduled premium is locked in during the guaranteed level term period.

For traditional whole life insurance, your scheduled premium does not increase simply because you're older or sicker.

That means the company doesn't get to say:

"You developed diabetes, so we're adding $30 to your monthly premium." or "You had a heart attack, so your whole life insurance now costs twice as much."

Your health was part of the underwriting decision when you applied.

Once the policy is issued and properly maintained, that decision has been made.

We explain the differences between these policies in much more detail here: Can My Life Insurance Rates Go Up?

What Happens When My Term Life Insurance Ends?

This is an important exception that really isn't an exception at all.

If you have a 20-year level term policy, your premium is guaranteed during that 20-year level period according to the policy.

After the level period ends, continuing the coverage may become dramatically more expensive.

The cost may then increase regularly as you get older.

That's not the insurance company raising your price because your health got worse.

It's how the term policy was structured from the beginning.

You purchased a guaranteed level price for a particular period.

Once that period ends, the policy moves into whatever continuation provisions were written into the contract.

That's why you need to understand the difference between term and permanent coverage before buying.

Should I Pick Whole Life or Term?

What About Whole Life Insurance?

Traditional whole life is much simpler in this respect.

It's designed to provide permanent coverage.

The scheduled premium is established when the policy is issued and doesn't increase because you age or your health deteriorates.

That's one reason whole life is so commonly used for final expenses.

Learn more: What Is Final Expense Insurance and How Does It Work?

Someone may purchase the policy at 60, 65, 70, or later because they want to know:

"This is what I'm paying, and this is the coverage I'm keeping."

They don't want to reach 80 and discover that their premium has suddenly tripled simply because they're older.

Traditional whole life provides that predictability.

What About Guaranteed Issue Whole Life?

Guaranteed Issue makes this protection even more accessible.

There are no medical questions used to determine eligibility for coverage.

There is no medical exam.

Someone can have very serious health problems and still qualify if they meet the policy's basic eligibility requirements.

Once that Guaranteed Issue policy is properly in force, getting even sicker doesn't suddenly disqualify the insured.

The company already agreed to issue the coverage without using health underwriting.

The policy commonly has an initial waiting period for natural death, often two years, but that is part of the policy from the beginning.

It isn't something the company adds later because your health got worse.

That's one of the reasons we view Guaranteed Issue whole life so positively.

It provides a way for people with serious health problems to lock in permanent life insurance when medically underwritten coverage isn't available.

When Does Life Insurance Coverage Begin?

What About an IUL?

An Indexed Universal Life policy is different.

With an IUL, there can be circumstances where additional premium may eventually be necessary to keep the policy adequately funded and in force.

But that's not because you developed a health condition.

An IUL contains insurance costs, policy charges, cash value, and interest-crediting mechanisms.

If the policy doesn't perform as illustrated or isn't adequately funded, additional money may eventually be needed.

That's a financial issue within the policy, not medical re-underwriting because your health deteriorated.

We explain that distinction in detail here: Can My Life Insurance Rates Go Up?

So When Can My Health Become an Issue Again?

This is where the companion article to this one becomes extremely important.

Don't let your policy lapse.

Suppose you bought a whole life policy while you were healthy.

Ten years later, you develop several serious medical conditions.

As long as your original policy remains properly in force, those new conditions ordinarily don't cause the company to re-underwrite you.

But suppose you stop making the required payments and the policy lapses.

Now you want the insurance company to reinstate it.

Depending on the policy and circumstances, the company may be allowed to ask about your health again as part of reinstatement.

That's a very different situation.

You had coverage.

You allowed it to terminate.

Now you're asking the insurance company to restore it.

The reinstatement provisions of the policy can require evidence of insurability.

And if your health has changed substantially, that can create a problem.

That's why keeping the policy you already own in force is so important.

This Is One of the Biggest Reasons Not to Let Good Coverage Lapse

People sometimes think:

"I'll cancel this now. I can always get another policy later."

Maybe.

But you don't know that.

You know what you qualify for today.

You don't know what you'll qualify for five years from now.

You don't know what your health will be.

You don't know what the price of new coverage will be.

You don't know which insurance companies will still offer the same products.

And you don't know whether a diagnosis you receive next year will dramatically change your options.

The policy you already have has one enormous advantage:

You're already insured.

Protect that.

Why Starting Earlier Can Be So Valuable

People sometimes wait to buy life insurance because they don't think they need it yet.

But life insurance is unusual.

The best time to qualify for it is often before you think you're going to need it.

When you're younger, rates are generally lower.

When you're healthier, more companies may be available.

When more companies are competing for your business, we have a better chance of finding favorable coverage.

Then, once the policy is properly in force, later changes in your health don't ordinarily change the company's original decision.

You bought insurance when you could qualify for it.

Now you have it when you need it.

This Is Also Why We Care About Your Budget

Keeping a policy in force starts with choosing something you can afford.

We don't want to sell someone a $150-per-month policy simply because we can get it approved if $150 is going to make every month uncomfortable.

We would rather find something that fits.

As we tell clients:

"This is supposed to fix a problem, not start a new one."

Life insurance should protect your family.

It shouldn't destabilize your budget.

Choosing a comfortable premium makes it much more likely that you'll keep the coverage through good times and bad.

And keeping it means that if your health changes later, you don't have to start over and ask another insurance company to accept the new version of your health.

This Is Another Reason Comparing Companies Matters

The company you choose today can have consequences decades from now.

We don't want to find just a policy you can qualify for.

We want to find good coverage at a price you can comfortably maintain.

An independent agency can compare multiple companies rather than trying to make your health fit the underwriting rules of one carrier.

If one company wants $110 per month and another appropriate company can provide comparable coverage for $80, that difference matters.

Not just today.

Over 10 years, that's $3,600.

More importantly, the $80 policy may be much easier to keep during a difficult financial period.

Finding an affordable policy and keeping it in force are connected.

Can I Get Life Insurance If I Have Health Problems?

What About the First Two Years?

There's one more distinction we need to make.

Many life insurance policies have an initial contestability period, commonly two years.

That doesn't mean your insurance company can cancel your properly maintained policy simply because your health changes during those two years.

It means that if a death occurs during the contestability period, the insurance company may be entitled to review the original application more carefully and verify that the questions were answered accurately.

If you answered the application truthfully, developing a new illness after the policy was issued is an entirely different matter from hiding an existing condition when you originally applied.

That's one reason accurate applications are so important.

We explain what happens when a claim is filed here: How Do Life Insurance Claims Work?

The Bottom Line

One of the greatest benefits of life insurance is that your insurance company doesn't get to reconsider you every time your health changes.

You qualify.

The company issues the policy.

You keep the policy properly in force.

And later changes in your health don't ordinarily allow the company to simply take that coverage away.

With level term insurance, your scheduled premium remains level during the guaranteed term period.

With traditional whole life, your scheduled premium doesn't increase simply because you get older or sicker.

An IUL works differently financially, but deterioration in your health isn't what causes its funding requirements to change.

The major situation we want you to avoid is allowing good coverage to lapse.

Once the policy is gone, getting it reinstated can potentially put your health back into the conversation.

That's why we encourage people to buy coverage while they're younger and healthier, choose an amount they can comfortably afford, and then protect that coverage.

Your health may change.

Your life may change.

Your family may change.

Your properly maintained life insurance doesn't have to disappear just because your health got worse.

That's one of the biggest reasons to have it in the first place.

You Might Also Be Wondering...

Can my life insurance rates go up?

When does life insurance coverage begin?

How do life insurance claims work?

Can I get life insurance if I have health problems?

Should I pick whole life or term?

What is final expense insurance and how does it work?

When is it too late to buy life insurance?