Getting life insurance with high PSA is possible, but it may take a little work to find best insurance company for you.
If you've been diagnosed with a high PSA or it showed up high on an insurance exam, you may have trouble qualifying.
It's possible you may not qualify at all with some insurance companies, depending on your age and how high your PSA was.
While a higher than normal PSA or Prostate Specific Antigen does not mean you have prostate cancer, the likelihood of having prostate cancer increases for those with a PSA above 4.0 ng/mL.
PSA above 4 is concerning to life insurance companies
Only about 25% of men with a PSA of between 4 and 10 will ultimately be diagnosed with prostate cancer, which seem like pretty good odds that you don't have cancer, but insurance companies can still require a complete prostate exam and/or possibly a biopsy before making you an offer.
The older you are when the higher PSA is discovered, the better.
So if you're age 70 and your PSA is 6.0, this would be less of a concern than if you were age 40 and had PSA of 6.0.
For PSAs above 10, the likelihood is greater that you may have cancer and you will likely need a complete prostate exam with good results before qualifying with any of the competitive insurance companies with a PSA above 10.
What if you're declined due to high PSA
Of course, other issues like Prostatitis, BPH (enlarged prostate) or a urinary tract infection can also cause elevations in PSA, so what do you do if you're declined or postponed for life insurance because of a high PSA?
First thing, make sure to get a copy of your most recent lab results and/or the lab results from your free insurance exam.
If you've already been postponed or declined for life insurance, ask your agent or advisor if they've already shopped with other insurance companies to see if any other companies may make you an offer now.
The problem with this is that most agents will not have access to your medical records, so trying to re-shop a case with only one PSA reading may be pointless without knowing more history or past PSA levels.
We obtain medical records on every case when the underwriters want them, so we can easily "re-shop" your case later, if necessary.
If you cannot get life insurance offer, this is what to do
See your doctor for an evaluation and bring your insurance exam lab results to show doctor.
The doctor will likely do a digital rectal exam and a follow up PSA and possibly Free PSA test.
Based on all of these results, hopefully your doctor can indicate that they believe you're okay, and there's no need for biopsy or further testing, as well as putting this information in your medical records or proving you with letter indicating such and signed by Dr..
Provide this new information to your agent/advisor and ask them to send the new information to the original company you applied to for reconsideration.
If your doctor recommended you have a biopsy or a prostate MRI (MRI would be my first choice), then this will usually need to be completed before you'll get an offer of life insurance.
Just because one company won't insure you doesn't mean others won't
Quick Story: 64 year old gentleman wanted either 20 year term or a GUL to age 90 policy if the cost of the GUL was going to be close in cost to the 20 year term.
Based on health questions he answered for me, I quoted him Preferred Plus and Preferred rates as a range of the cost since he only took blood pressure medication, but everything else seemed good.
We had him apply to best 20 year term carrier and best GUL to 90 carrier.
His PSA on insurance exam labs was 7.65 and the 20 year term carrier immediately postponed him until he had a full prostate work up.
Apply to more than one carrier if PSA may be an issue
The GUL company asked if he ever had prostate biopsy, which he did not, but this gentleman did tell me his PSA's over past 3 years were 6.1, 7.2 and 6.1.
His doctor also told this gentleman he was not concerned since the PSA readings were relatively consistent over past few years.
I relayed this information to the GUL underwriter, and they promptly approved this gentleman for a Standard rate, which he quickly accepted!
Case study #2 getting life insurance with high PSA
Male 62, wanted best $1,000,000 term life insurance and either Thrivent Financial or Protective Life may make best offer so we had him apply to both.
Had insurance exam and all was good except for PSA of 5.53.
Thrivent approved him for their Standard rate of $449 per month and Protective approved him for their Table 2 rating of $701 monthly.
Accept best offer then re-shop after PSA evaluated and all good
We recommended he accept the Thrivent offer, then he should get a full prostate evaluation and we would then go back to carriers for better offers if evaluation good and no evidence of prostate cancer.
Male 62 agreed this made sense and accepted Thrivent's offer which was $252 per month less than Protective Life and would save him $3,024 per year!!
By accepting the Thrivent policy, he was locked in to their rate which they could not change if it was determined later that he did have prostate cancer.
Can you get life insurance with prostate cancer?
Getting life insurance with an active prostate cancer diagnosis is tough.
Some doctors take the "watchful waiting" approach to low Gleason Score, best prognosis cancers.
We have been able to get offers for some men in otherwise very good health with best case outcomes, meaning Gleason Score of 6, PSA that has been stable for about 2 years, the longer the better, and highest PSA never above 10.
Here is a case we shopped for 59 year old male who was seeking $500,000 with active prostate cancer but with no treatment.
Life insurance with active prostate cancer is possible
Bottom Line- life insurance with high PSA
After we find out your basic health information and PSA levels, we'll narrow down the best probable insurance companies for you.
We'll inquire with every competitive insurance company
We'll then have you apply to these companies, obtain all of your medical records and negotiate to get you the best offer.
Once we have your medical records and exam results, we can place you with ANY life insurance company if the first companies we try don't make good offers.
Insurance exam results are usually good for 12 months, so we can use one exam for almost ANY life insurance company over the next 12 months.
Need Help Getting Life Insurance With High PSA?
We're always happy to help or happy to verify whether or not any rate for which you did qualify is actually the best for you.
We will need to know your most recent PSA and any past PSAs, have you had prostate biopsy or MRI in addition to getting your overall health history otherwise.
Feel free to call or test us at 800-380-3533, click here to email us or simply click on the button above and complete the questionnaire and we'll send you quotes and information.