HomeInsuranceHealth conditionsHeart disease
Burial insurance with heart disease
Heart disease is not one thing on an insurance application. Treated high blood pressure is barely a question. A stent placed four years ago is usually written at level benefit. Congestive heart failure sits on the first page of almost every application as a stop sign. The word covers all three, so the useful question is which of them applies.
Nothing here is medical advice and nothing here should change how anyone manages a health condition. Underwriting rules differ from one insurance company to the next and change without notice. The outcome of any application is decided by the carrier on the individual case, not by a website.
The short answer
Most cardiac history is written at level benefit once enough time has passed since the last event. A heart attack, a stent, a bypass or a valve operation is generally a dated event with a look back attached, and once the look back clears the case is often ordinary again. That is very different from a condition that is present continuously.
Congestive heart failure is the exception, and it is worth being blunt about it. Heart failure is a standing condition rather than a past event, and most of the market treats it as a reason to offer a graded or a guaranteed issue policy rather than level benefit, whenever it was diagnosed.
The spectrum, from routine to guaranteed issue
| Situation | How the market usually treats it |
|---|---|
| High blood pressure or high cholesterol, treated and stable | Level benefit, commonly at the best available rate class |
| Atrial fibrillation, controlled, no heart failure and no stroke | Level benefit with many companies, graded with some |
| Stent or angioplasty more than two years ago, nothing since | Level benefit is common |
| Heart attack or bypass more than two years ago, nothing since | Level benefit with many companies, graded with stricter ones |
| Any cardiac event inside the last 12 months | Commonly graded, guaranteed issue with some |
| Pacemaker fitted, no heart failure, look back cleared | Often level benefit, the device alone is not usually a stop sign |
| Implanted defibrillator | Commonly graded or guaranteed issue, it signals a different level of risk |
| Congestive heart failure at any date | Graded or guaranteed issue across most of the market |
| A procedure advised by a cardiologist and not yet carried out | Usually a decline until it is done, on every tier except guaranteed issue |
General market patterns rather than a promise about any company. Every application is underwritten on its own facts.
What the underwriter actually asks
- The month and year of every cardiac event, listed separately. Heart attack, angioplasty, stent, bypass, valve repair or replacement, aneurysm repair, ablation.
- How many. The number of stents, and the number of vessels bypassed, are asked by many companies, and two events read very differently from one.
- Whether a pacemaker or an implanted defibrillator is fitted, and when.
- Whether congestive heart failure, cardiomyopathy or an enlarged heart has ever been diagnosed. Some forms also ask for an ejection fraction figure if it is known.
- Whether chest pain or angina occurs, how often, and whether it has changed recently.
- Whether an irregular heartbeat has been diagnosed, whether a blood thinner is taken, and whether there has been a stroke or a mini stroke alongside it.
- Whether there is also diabetes, kidney disease or a lung condition. Cardiac questions are read together with those and the combination is treated harder than either part.
- Whether you use tobacco or nicotine in any form.
- Whether any test, procedure, surgery or specialist referral has been advised and not yet completed, and whether any result is outstanding. This one catches more cardiac cases than any other question on the form.
- Whether you need help with activities of daily living, receive home health care, or use a wheelchair for a chronic condition.
An advised procedure is worse than a completed one
People often try to get cover in place before a scheduled operation. Underwriting works the other way round. A bypass done and recovered from is a dated event that ages out of a look back. A bypass advised and not yet carried out is an open unknown, and almost every level and graded application asks about it directly.
Congestive heart failure, the honest position
Congestive heart failure appears on the knockout page of most burial insurance applications, usually with no time limit at all. That means the honest answer for most people living with it is a guaranteed issue policy. It asks no health questions, accepts everyone inside the age band, and applies a two year period during which death from natural causes returns the premiums paid plus interest rather than the full benefit. Accidental death is paid in full from day one.
A minority of companies will look at mild, long stable heart failure on a graded basis, particularly where there is nothing else alongside it. It is worth asking, and it is not worth counting on. Where heart failure sits beside diabetes, COPD or kidney disease, the market closes further, and a page that suggested otherwise would be selling you a delay rather than a policy.
The practical move is to size the policy to what it actually has to pay for and get it in force, since the two year clock only starts once the policy exists. Waiting a year in the hope of a better offer usually means the same product a year later with the waiting period still ahead of you.
Pacemakers and defibrillators are not the same question
These get lumped together in conversation and separated on applications. A pacemaker corrects a rhythm that is too slow or irregular, and on its own, with no heart failure and with the implant date outside the look back, it is frequently a level benefit case.
An implanted defibrillator is read differently, because it is generally fitted where there is a risk of a dangerous rhythm or a weakened heart muscle. Most companies treat it as a marker of the underlying condition rather than as a device, and the outcome is commonly a graded or a guaranteed issue policy. Knowing which device you have, and saying so precisely, is worth doing.
The look back periods that matter
| Window | Typically covers |
|---|---|
| Last 12 months | Heart attack, stent, angioplasty, bypass, valve surgery, ablation, a device implanted, a change in cardiac medication, any advised procedure not yet done |
| Last 24 months | The same events on the majority of applications, plus a second event of any kind and any hospital admission for chest pain |
| Last 36 months | Used by a minority of companies, usually where there has been more than one event or where a cardiac event sits beside diabetes or kidney disease |
| Ever, with no time limit | Congestive heart failure and cardiomyopathy on most forms, plus heart transplant and being listed for one |
What makes an application better or worse
Better. A single event, well in the past, with the exact month and year to hand. Full recovery and a return to normal activity. Stable medication. No heart failure. No tobacco. Blood pressure and cholesterol treated and settled. No diabetes or kidney disease alongside it. Nothing outstanding and nothing booked.
Worse. More than one event. An event inside the last year. Congestive heart failure or an implanted defibrillator. Angina that has changed recently. Current tobacco use. A cardiac history combined with a stroke or with kidney failure. Anything a cardiologist has recommended that has not been carried out.
How much cover to buy
Buy to the bill. A burial once the cemetery has billed commonly totals about $15,395. The funeral home portion, a service with viewing and a metal casket included, runs about $8,300. A cremation with a service is nearer $6,280 and a direct cremation nearer $2,202. The calculator gives the figure for your own state.
Bring the dates and find out where you land
The month and year of each event is most of the answer. Companies use different windows and read devices and heart failure differently, so the same history genuinely produces different offers on the same afternoon.
(786) 818-0383Talk to one of our licensed agentsCommon questions
Can you get burial insurance after a heart attack?
Yes. A heart attack is treated as a dated event with a look back attached, most commonly twelve or twenty four months. Inside that window a graded policy is the usual outcome. Outside it, with no further events and no heart failure, many companies write the case at level benefit and pay the full amount from day one.
Do stents or a bypass stop you qualifying?
Not permanently. Both are dated events. The number matters as well as the date, so a single stent placed several years ago reads very differently from three stents and a bypass across the last two years. Once the look back has passed with nothing since, level benefit cover is a normal outcome.
What about congestive heart failure?
This is the hard one. Congestive heart failure appears on the knockout page of most applications with no time limit, so the realistic product for most people living with it is guaranteed issue, which asks no health questions and applies a two year waiting period on natural death. A minority of companies will consider mild, long stable heart failure on a graded basis, so it is worth asking, but it is not something to count on.
Does a pacemaker disqualify you?
Usually not by itself. A pacemaker fitted for a slow or irregular rhythm, with no heart failure and with the implant date outside the look back, is frequently written at level benefit. An implanted defibrillator is a different question, because it generally reflects a weakened heart muscle or a dangerous rhythm, and it commonly leads to a graded or guaranteed issue offer.
Is atrial fibrillation a problem?
Less than most people expect. Controlled atrial fibrillation, without heart failure and without a stroke history, is written at level benefit by many companies. What raises attention is atrial fibrillation combined with a stroke, with heart failure, or with a recent change in treatment.
Should you apply before a scheduled heart procedure?
No. Almost every level and graded application asks whether any test, procedure or surgery has been advised and not yet carried out, and an unfinished recommendation is treated as an unknown. Applying at that point generally produces a decline, and a decline stays on the record. Guaranteed issue remains available at any time if cover is needed immediately.
Is high blood pressure a problem for burial insurance?
Almost never on its own. Treated and stable blood pressure, and treated cholesterol, are routine on these applications and are commonly written at the best available rate class. Being on medication is not the issue. What companies weigh is what the medication treats and how settled it has been.