I’m male, non-smoker, in my late 50s. Until recent years I always qualified for and purchased life insurance at the lowest rates. I have had echocardiograms and echo-stress evaluations in my 30s and 40s following episodes of chest pain where those tests helped rule out anything serious related to my heart. Consequently, I could purchase life insurance at the best rates
That continued until my mid-50s when I was diagnosed with high blood pressure that I easily control with medication. A subsequent echocardiogram revealed that I have a bicuspid aortic heart valve with mild regurgitation / murmur.
I enjoy good health and personally notice no health effect from this diagnosis. However, because of my bicuspid diagnosis, when it comes to life insurance rates, my name seems to have an asterisk (*) next to it, and I no longer qualify for anything close to the best rates for life insurance. Some insurance companies now look up my rates off of ‘Table 2’ and tables with even higher rates.
Recently, I cashed in part of a whole life policy to pay for a new long-term care policy. This reduced my life insurance coverage. So, I started shopping to restore that portion of life insurance coverage with some additional term life insurance.
Due to my “bicuspid“ diagnosis, my current insurance company gave me a quote I thought was sky high for $300K of life insurance for a 10- or 20-year level term. I then tried the life insurance companies that heavily advertise on radio. I filled out their paperwork, underwent medical exams, and after many weeks, their rates were worse than those of my insurance company. It was discouraging.
I started thinking: I am in good health. I am not the kind of risk for insurance that is being assigned to me. There has got to be a market for people like me and companies somewhere that cater to our market. So, I went online and googled “bicuspid life insurance.”
I found Gordon Conwell, emailed him, and called his phone number. I spoke with him personally the first time I called. He understood my situation, answered my questions, and told me he thought he could do much better than the life-insurance rates I was being given by others. In my head I was thinking “that is what they all say” but I had nothing to lose so I gave Gordon Conwell a try.
I am happy to report that Gordon Conwell came through for me. It did take some time. Gordon Conwell brought me two different policies with very competitive rates that were far less ($70-$100 less per month) than what I had been previously quoted by my insurance company and by the highly-advertised we-shop-you-save insurance brokers that are often mentioned on the radio.
If you feel as if other life insurance companies have placed an asterisk (*) next to your name, I recommend Gordon Conwell to help you find life insurance with more reasonable rates for you.
