Life Insurance and Cholesterol – LDL, HDL and Ratios Matter

It seems as though nearly everyone is being treated for elevated cholesterol these days, and it not just the age 50+ citizens anymore. We see numerous 30 and 40 year olds and a growing number of 20 something applicants who are attempting to deal with elevated cholesterol.

And now the good news! From a life insurance perspective, controlled cholesterol alone (whether you are being treated with medication(s) or not) will not exclude applicants from super preferred and preferred rate pricing classifications. That being said, what are the limits? That is to say, what are common cholesterol underwriting guidelines?

General Underwriting guidelines for cholesterol have two parts. First, what is the Total Cholesterol? Total cholesterol can be simply defined as the total value LDL (low density lipoprotiens) cholesterol and HDL (high density lipoprotiens) cholesterol (LDL + HDL = total cholesterol). The second part, is the ratio of HDL to total cholesterol (total cholesterol/HDL = cholesterol ratio).

Life Insurance Underwriting Guidelines will vary from company to company. However, for a quick and simple perspective on cholesterol readings and eligibility for super preferred and preferred rates — here are the cholesterol guidelines for an A+ carrier with very, very competitive term life insurance rates:

Super Preferred Rates

With a Ratio <= 5.0 Total Cholesterol can be as high as 205

With a Ratio <= 4.5 Total Cholesterol can be as high as 240

Preferred Rates

With a Ratio <= 6.0 Total Cholesterol can be as high as 230

With a Ratio <= 5.5 Total Cholesterol can be as high as 260

It’s encouraging to know that even if you are being treated for elevated cholesterol it only requires reasonable readings and ratios to be eligible for the best life insurance rate classifications.

Want to know more? If you get a term life insurance quote at http://www.1stquote.com, you can see pricing differences between standard, preferred and preferred plus rates.