Most people who are overweight or obese think they can’t obtain burial insurance, but that is not true.

If you are overweight or obese, you can obtain burial insurance. Moreover, you can obtain burial insurance rather easily and at an affordable price.

In fact, you may have many options available to you.

How great is that?

Many of our overweight or obese clients obtain burial insurance with us, most times with an immediate benefit. No matter your situation, we can likely help you obtain this important insurance.

Here’s what we will discuss:

• What Is Burial Insurance
• Burial Insurance Underwriting
• The 3 Burial Insurance Options For You
• Our Application Process – Easy
• Case Studies
• Now You Know The 3 Options Available To You

Let’s jump in and introduce what burial insurance is.

What Is Burial Insurance?

Do you want to know a secret?

Burial insurance is actually life insurance.

Yes, that is right.

I know people and the industry like to call it “burial insurance”.

However, burial insurance is a whole life insurance policy with a small or low death benefit like $25,000.

It is designed to help pay for funeral expenses and burial needs.

That’s why people and the industry call it “burial insurance”.

Consequently, you may hear burial insurance called other names like:

• Final expense insurance
• Funeral insurance
• End-of-life insurance
• Cremation insurance

And on and on…

They all mean the same thing. The industry calls it burial insurance because that’s what it is intended to do.

Geez, John. Why don’t I just work with a funeral home directly, then?

Good question. You can. However, we talk about why you may not want to do that next.

Advantage Of Burial Insurance Versus A Funeral Home Plan

However, burial insurance (i.e. the whole life policy with a small death benefit) completes your funeral and burial needs in about 30 minutes (more on that later).

You see, you can go to a funeral home and set up a plan. You pay into their plan. But, what if you die and you still have an outstanding balance?

Then, yes, your loved ones will have to pay the rest.

Do you want that to happen?

No, John, I don’t.

Burial insurance completes your funeral and burial needs, up to the death benefit you select. And, without the worry that your loved ones have to pay.

For example, you could pay 3 payments, have a heart attack, and pass away. The carrier then pays the death benefit. (This, unfortunately, happened to a client of ours, but fortunately, he had burial insurance.)

Additionally, most people don’t wake up and say “Honey, it’s such a nice day out. Let’s go to the funeral home to set up our funerals.”

And then spend a few hours at the funeral home.

Alternatively, burial insurance essentially establishes this funding. It creates the maximum amount paid out for your funeral. If your funeral costs less, some money can go to your loved ones.

You can then set up your funeral on your own time.

That’s better, right?

Moreover, burial insurance is easy to qualify for, even for overweight people. Let’s talk about the qualifications next in our underwriting section.

Burial Insurance Underwriting For Overweight And Obese

Before we get into burial insurance for people who are overweight or obese, let’s talk about burial insurance underwriting.

As we stated earlier, burial insurance is simply a whole life or permanent insurance policy with a small death benefit.

Usually, the available death benefits are between $2,000 to $25,000 and sometimes more (such as $50,000) depending on age.

Underwriting for burial insurance with overweight situations is much different than that for traditional life insurance.

With traditional life insurance, underwriters are going to want to know the severity of your overweight or obesity. They focus on your weight because your weight is a very important indicator of your overall health.

They will look at your BMI (which is a way to categorize your overweight in one number. Over 25 is categorized as overweight and over 30 is categorized as obese). Carriers will likely request your doctor’s records and want to know other health conditions, too. (If you are overweight or obese and need term life or permanent insurance, contact us, and we will discuss the steps and process with you.)

With burial insurance, underwriting is different. The carrier doesn’t care about all of that stuff.

They don’t want to see your doctor’s records. They simply want to know your height and weight. Luckily, the height/weight tables are very liberal in burial insurance, so they take into account overweight situations.

If your height and weight fit into the table, you are good to go. If not, then no life insurance is available.

It is that simple.

Additionally, a handful of carriers don’t utilize a height / weight table. If your situation warrants so, we utilize these carriers.

Yes Or No Questions

So, I just need to be within a height and weight table, and I am good to go?

Not necessarily.

You still have to qualify health-wise. The health questions on a burial insurance application are all “yes or no”. The carrier just wants to know if you have a certain medical condition or not. The question could be as simple as, “in the past 2 years have you been diagnosed or treated for atrial fibrillation?” You would answer “yes” if you have or “no” if not.

If you answer “yes”, then your weight doesn’t matter. You probably won’t obtain burial insurance with that specific carrier.

This brings us to the next point. Every carrier is different in how they underwrite.

Additionally, some carriers don’t even ask about your height or weight. That is right. They don’t care. So, if you are extremely obese, and you have no other significant underlying health conditions, who do you think we will use? That is right – the carrier that doesn’t ask about your weight.

Burial insurance underwriting is a simple “yes/no” application. Some carriers then follow the application with a phone interview. We prefer the ones that don’t when possible. After that, a coverage determination usually is instantaneous or a couple of days thereafter.

Carriers will run your background through a few different databases to ensure that what you say on the application matches your records. One database is the MIB which lists your medical claim history as well as your insurance application history.

They will also look at your prescription drug history. Carriers can see all of that. If an answer to an application question does not match a prescription drug you take, that will be a red flag.

It’s really that simple.

Now, let’s discuss your options.

3 Burial Insurance Options For Overweight And Obese People

There are a few types of burial insurance for overweight people. We will help you make sense of them.

Keep in mind that height and weight tables for burial insurance are very liberal, as we indicated earlier.

So, if you are only overweight with no (truthful) health conditions, then we can get you the lowest-cost burial insurance for your situation.

Let’s jump into the burial insurance options for the overweight and obese.

Immediate Benefit Burial Insurance

The first one is called level or immediate benefit. This means the death benefit has “day 1” coverage.

Immediate benefit coverage is what we want. Why? Let’s say Jim applies for $20,000 burial insurance. The carrier approves him with immediate benefit coverage. Six months later, Jim, unfortunately, dies suddenly.  Jim’s beneficiary will receive the $20,000 to help pay for Jim’s funeral costs.

It is also, generally, the least expensive burial insurance option.

As I mentioned, if you are only overweight, then you can get immediate benefit burial insurance.

You just need to truthfully say “no” to the health questions.

You can check out the costs below:

Keep in mind that we work with way more carriers than shown on the quoter. The quoter is a nice guide, giving you an idea of what is available.

What if you don’t qualify for an immediate benefit? We discuss that next.

Graded Benefit Burial Insurance

The second option is called graded benefit. It’s a tad different than immediate benefit.

Essentially, if you answer “yes” to one of the health questions, then you are likely eligible for a graded benefit policy.

Think of graded benefit as a staircase for the death benefit. For example, if you pass away from illness or natural causes:

• In the 1^st yr, your beneficiary receives 10% of the death benefit
• In the 2^nd yr, 60%, and
• Then if you pass in the 3^rd year and beyond, your beneficiary receives 100% of the death benefit.

Notice I used “illness and natural causes”. If you were to pass away from an accident, even in the 1^st 2 years, the carrier pays 100% of the death benefit. So, the limitation is on illnesses and natural causes only.

Do you think a graded benefit is that bad? Not really.

However, the cost is higher compared to immediate benefit plans. That is the reason why we aim for immediate benefit coverage. Remember, too, every carrier is different with underwriting. So, while one carrier may offer a graded benefit for your situation, another may offer an immediate benefit.

Feel free to check out the quoter below.

Just input “decent” health in the health class field.

Guaranteed Issue Life Insurance

If you can’t obtain an immediate benefit or graded benefit, there is guaranteed-issue coverage available. This means just as it sounds: you automatically receive coverage. Just fill out an application and answer a few non-health questions. The carrier does not run your background through the MIB or prescription drug history.

Guaranteed-issue life insurance coverage contains a “waiting period” death benefit, usually 2 years. We work with a few different guaranteed-issue carriers. Sometimes, the cost of the guaranteed-issue insurance coverage is less than that of a traditional graded benefit policy. If that’s the case, it makes sense to apply for the guaranteed-issue coverage.

As we indicated, guaranteed issue life insurance has a “waiting period” for death benefit coverage. Like that on the graded benefit plan, the waiting period applies to death from illness or natural causes. Accidents are covered 100% on day 1.

Depending on the carrier, the waiting period could be 2 years or 3 years. If you pass away within the waiting period, the carrier usually reimburses your premiums plus interest to your beneficiary.

Feel free to check out the quoter below. Just input “poor” health in the health class field.

As we stated earlier, we work with many other guaranteed issue carriers that are not on the quoter.

For example, we work with a guaranteed issue term plan. It is not available in every state.

You can enroll yourself here.

The rate is fixed for 5 years and then will increase as you enter new age bands.

We also work with a guaranteed issue whole life plan available to those under the age of 40. Additionally, we work with many inexpensive guaranteed issue plans.

The Application Process

If you are overweight or obese, applying for burial insurance is easy. Here are the steps:

• Give us a call, use the form below, or the contact us link
• Tell us you’d like to apply for burial insurance, and that you are overweight
• Tell us other health conditions you have, if any, including tobacco or nicotine use
• We will analyze your options over the phone
• We select a carrier. You apply over the phone with us

Depending on your situation, you could have burial insurance in 30 minutes

It is very easy.

Remember, we work with several carriers that do not utilize a height and weight chart.

Case Studies Of Helpling Overweight Individuals Obtain Burial Insurance

As we indicated earlier, nearly all of our overweight clients obtain burial insurance with us. Moreover, most of them are approved with an immediate benefit.

Here are 3 case studies illustrating what is possible. Rates are subject to change.

Case Study #1

Male, non-smoker, age 52.

Height 5’8”, Weight 337 pounds.

No other documented, major health conditions.

He wanted $25,000 of burial insurance.

He was out of the height/weight tables for several carriers, so we used one carrier that has no height/weight tables.

We got him $25,000 for $90.34 per month.

Case Study #2

Female, 47

Height 5’2” Weight 240

She had breast cancer 14 months ago.

In remission and no follow-ups are required.

It’s not so much the height/weight as the limiting factor, but the cancer.

Because it’s been over a year, a graded benefit is available.

$15,000 burial insurance cost about $70 per month.

However, a $15,000 with a guaranteed issue plan is $49 per month. So, she picked the guaranteed issue option.

Case Study #3

Man 60 years old, 5’11” 345 pounds

He lives in New York.

Takes metformin for type 2 diabetes and has high blood pressure and cholesterol.

These aren’t big deals, and his weight is good with many carriers

Unfortunately, he lives in New York. There aren’t many burial insurance carriers in New York. Those carriers that would accept him are not available in New York.

There is a guaranteed issue option available, so we went with that. $15,000 of burial insurance for $95.38 per month.

Now You Know 3 Burial Insurance Options Available To Those Who Are Overweight Or Obese

We hope you found this article informative. You can obtain burial insurance if you are overweight or obese.

Are you ready to get started? We can help.

Feel free to contact us or use the form below.

We work with many carriers in the burial insurance area and know we can find the right coverage for you. As with everything we do, we work with your best interests at all times. That means if there is a better option for you than what we can provide, we will help put you in touch with someone who can.