The American Cancer Society recently issued revised prostate cancer screening guidelines. The study looked at 2 of the most common prostate screening tests – the PSA blood test and the DRE – digital rectal exam.
The purpose of the study was to issue better guidelines to men considering additional prostate screening tests when their PSA test is elevated or their DRE was abnormal.
From a prostate life insurance underwriting standpoint, these guidelines will make it more difficult for some men to obtain life insurance.
Let me just say this first:
We are not medical doctors. You should follow a trusted physician’s advice when it comes to treating medical issues. The purpose of this article is to show you how your prostate screening decisions affect your ability to obtain life insurance.
Prostate life insurance is a specialty of ours and prostate screening issues happen all the time.
Many times, the first that a client of ours learns that their PSA is elevated is due to their paramed exam for life insurance returning a PSA level that is elevated.
When life insurance underwriters see that you have an elevated PSA level – Underwriting grinds to a halt and it doesn’t start again until Life insurance underwriters know why your PSA level is elevated.
Here is what usually happens:
The insured gets a letter from the life insurance company, declining to offer them life insurance. When we learn about declines or postpones, we go back to underwriting and try to get as much information about the decline as possible. If it is due to elevated lab results, we request that the lab results get sent to the insured ASAP.
With PSA elevations, we tell our clients to take the lab results back to their doctor for discussion: If you get declined by one life insurance company and then don’t go to your doctor for a follow-up exam, most life insurance companies will not offer coverage until the elevated PSA is resolved.
