Life Insurance For A 70-Year-Old: Your Questions Answered!
last updated on March 7, 2022Are you considering purchasing life insurance for a 70 year old?
Whether you are 70 years old yourself, or are looking for life insurance coverage for someone else like a parent who is 70 years old, you’ve found the right article!
Today, we’ll cover all the major questions 70 year olds should ask when looking to buy life insurance to cover things like final expenses, debt, or income replacement.
Let’s begin!
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Do I have to take an exam?
The good news is that getting an exam when a 70 year old applies for life insurance is optional.
In fact, virtually NONE of our clients take exams, opting for what’s called “simplified issue” coverage.”
Here’s How It Works…
When any 70 year old applies for our life insurance or burial insurance policies, the insurance company only checks your past medical and prescription history to decide if you’re approved.
In other words, you are not required to give blood specimens, urine samples, or mouth swabs for the company to accept you.
Even better, unlike most life insurance programs requiring weeks of underwriting analysis, our life insurance options for 70 year olds only take SECONDS to get an approval!
If you’re looking for a quick and simple way to get a life policy, our simplified issue carriers make life super simple!
What are my life insurance options as a 70 year old?
Most 70 years olds looking for life insurance choose from the following policy options:
- Term life insurance. Term life insurance for seniors provides the most payout for the least amount of money. However, most do NOT get term insurance because (a) it’s difficult to qualify for, and (b), may cancel before you kick the bucket! That’s right, if you buy term insurance, you may LOSE your coverage when you most need it! Bottom line, term is “terminating insurance,” and you MUST take that risk into consideration.
- Universal life insurance. Like term life insurance, guaranteed universal life insurance for seniors may cancel prior to death if set up incorrectly. However, if set up right, universal life is permanent life insurance coverage and you cannot outlive it. This may be an excellent option for healthier seniors who want coverage that will NOT cancel.
- Whole life insurance. We recommend whole life insurance almost to all our 70 year old clients seeking life insurance coverage. Whole life insurance never cancels due to age or health, rates never increase, and you qualify for first day full coverage! Plus, our whole life insurance options offer “simplified issue” underwriting, meaning our clients take NO exam or give blood to qualify. Just answer a few simple health questions and you’re good to go!
I’m not in the greatest shape. Can I qualify for a policy?
The answer is absolutely YES!
First of all, the good news is there are life insurance policies for 70 year old men and women, even with a history of poor health.
For example, our team has qualified our clients with first day coverage for people with a history of the following issues:
- Cancer
- Heart issues like heart attacks, strokes, etc.
- Mental health disorders,
- Lung disease like COPD,
- Diabetes, even if you use insulin or have diabetic complications,
- Neurological disorders like Parkinson’s or lupus,
- and more.
The toughest pre-existing conditions
What if you have a significantly advanced pre-existing health condition?
No worries =).
As long as you’re 80 years old or younger, we have what’s called no questions asked whole life insurance available. These plans provide quality coverage where otherwise impossible to get.
My point is this…
Please do NOT worry about being unable to get covered.
Thankfully, we’ve got plenty of options for 70 year old men and women looking for life insurance at Buy Life Insurance For Burial for anyone in ANY condition.
What are some reasons why a person aged 70 like me would get life insurance?
In addition to helping 70 year olds find life and burial insurance coverage, I own a national insurance agency, training agents to help seniors with their life insurance needs.
The reason why I mention it is that I teach my agents there are many good reasons why retired folks should consider carrying life insurance into their senior years.
And here’s some of the most common reasons why someone your age would own life insurance:
- Final expenses. Many senior years enter their “Golden Years” without adequate life insurance coverage to pay burial or cremation costs. In fact, many retire with little savings, and feel their savings wouldn’t be enough to cover final expenses. In my experience helping seniors with life insurance since 2011, needing life insurance to cover funeral expenses is the most common reason why a 70 year old male or female purchasing life insurance.
- Income replacement. Some people buy life insurance at 70 to take care of any income loss their spouse would receive given the primary earner’s death.
- Legacy of love. Some buy life insurance to leave money behind to kids or grandkids. Maybe they want to “leave a little something” as they say to the person they love the most, such as helping a grandchild along as they start college.
- Debt payoff. Many men and women 70 years old buy life insurance to pay off additional debt left behind after their death. For example, the policy may pay off a mortgage or credit cards.
I’m looking for coverage on my elderly 70 year-old parents. Can I get coverage on them?
The short answer is yes, you can buy life insurance on your parents!
The long answer is your 70 year old parent MUST sign off on the policy, too.
For example, no adult can authorize a life insurance policy on a 70 year old parent without their consent. However, the only exception is if you have power of attorney.
Nevertheless, as long as your parent agrees to taking out the life or burial insurance coverage, you can set up payments from your account to pay the policy premium.
In fact, we help lots of adult children get burial insurance or life insurance coverage on their parents. It’s very common these days, and know exactly what steps to take to help you out!
What insurance carriers are best for coverage on seniors age 70?
Do you know that there is not one single company that best fits every 70 year old looking for life insurance or burial insurance?
In fact, if any agent suggests that there is, it’s like you’re getting ripped off!
Why?
Because every person’s health is unique. And while some health factors fit some insurance companies, they may not match well at all, causing you to pay more than necessary.
The good news with Buy Life Insurance For Burial is that we are not married to one single carrier.
To clarify, we operate as independent brokers. This means we carry multiple insurance carriers and have access to the best coverage options.
You benefit because there’s a much higher likelihood to get not only a great price for your policy, but also the BEST quality of coverage, too, backed by some of the nation’s highest-rated insurance companies.
Bottom line, if you like getting the best bang AND value for your buck, chances are we can help!
I hear a lot of people talk about term life insurance. Should I get that?
If you listen to financial “gurus” on the radio like Dave Ramsey, you’ll hear a lot of talk about why term insurance is the best form of life insurance, and how whole life insurance is “a ripoff.”
The truth is that this is NOT the case in ALL circumstances. ESPECIALLY if you’re a 70 year old looking for life insurance coverage.
Why is this the case?
There are several reasons why term insurance may not be the best choice:
- Too difficult to qualify for. Ask any agent working with seniors. They’ll all tell you that most term insurance policies don’t get approved or get rated up so high that the insured refuses to pay the higher premium. In fact, I’ve seen estimates that nearly 70% of seniors over 60 years old applying for term insurance get denied or refuse coverage due to sky-high rates. And all of this stims from advanced age and pre-existing health issues.
- Term terminates. Most 70 year old men and women looking for life insurance believe final expense coverage is important. But what’s a policy worth if you end up outliving it? That’s the risk you run when picking up term insurance. Quite frankly, you may end up paying an enormous sum of money in premiums and end up outliving coverage. Bottom line, do you want to take that risk, ending up in older age without ANY coverage whatsoever? That’s what term coverage will do.
Well, if term insurance is no good, what option is best?
What most 70 year olds want is life insurance they cannot outlive, and whole life insurance is the answer.
Whole life insurance provides total peace of mind. You know you can never outlive your coverage (whole life lasts your whole life) as long as you pay your premiums. Plus, your rates never increase.
Being our clients are all on fixed incomes, they really appreciate that!
What if you want term insurance still?
To clarify, if you’re dead set on buying term insurance, we can still help you with that, too.
There are some circumstances where term still makes sense as a 70 year old, which is why we have access to carriers that are easier on underwriting and can help some 70 year olds get quality term life insurance in place.
I am on a fixed income. What kind of rates are we looking at?
The good news about getting a life insurance policy at 70 years old is that we have the ability to adjust the price to fit your budget.
For example, many of our clients are low-income seniors on a very tight and fixed budget.
Trust me, the last thing we’d endorse is pushing an expensive premium on our clients.
Bottom line, it benefits nobody for you to drop your coverage because it was too much money, wouldn’t you agree?
When we talk, we’ll give you a quick quote within 5 to 10 minutes, and get your feedback on what budget you think would be appropriate.
Our end goal is to help you with a policy if you have a need, no matter what the price is, big or small.
I get mail from AARP, Colonial Penn, and see all sorts of television commercials about burial insurance. Why not buy from them?
For years, AARP and Colonial Penn have been advertising final expense burial insurance on television, extolling all the benefits of their policies and how they help seniors pay for final expenses.
However, there are some fine print issues that you need to be aware of reveal the truth of how these plans operate.
Here’s a highlight of each:
AARP
AARP life insurance is almost exclusively term life insurance as is sold in their television commercials and letters they send you. As we’ve described above, term life insurance cancels. And AARP’s policy cancels at age 80.
That means if you outlive 80 years old, you lose your AARP term life insurance coverage. To add insult to injury, the plans go up in price every 5 years.
In fact, AARP term coverage becomes VERY expensive as you age past your 70s.
We’ve met lots of seniors over the years who had to drop their AARP plans, simply because the premiums were too expensive!
Colonial Penn
Colonial Penn life insurance is the company endorsed by Alex Trebek, the host of Jeopardy!. Most likely you’ve seen his commercials or gotten the letters in the mail.
If you read the fine print, you’ll find their “Guaranteed Acceptance” product does NOT cover for full natural death for the first two years.
While this may be your only type of option you can qualify for because your health isn’t the greatest, it’s very likely that you may qualify for something better with another product.
Bottom line, while both AARP and Colonial Penn do provide coverage for the people who need it, we believe at Buy Life Insurance For Burial the odds are very high we can get you a better quality policy that may start immediately without the need to wait or possibly outlive the coverage.
Get A Free Life Insurance Quote For A 70 Year Old
Ready to see what it runs to get life insurance for a 70 year old man or woman?
Here’s what you need to do next:
- Call. You can speak to one of our friendly representatives by calling 888-626-0439. If we’re tied up and cannot answer the phone, simply leave a voicemail and we’ll call back ASAP. It only takes 5 to 10 minutes to get a quick quote for what life insurance would cost for a 70 year old.
- Online Quote. You can also easily request a quote online without calling. If you’re on a smartphone, click the button at the top to request a free quote. If you’re on your desktop computer, fill out the information to your right then click submit. You’ll get to see some price options, and we’ll follow up with you later to see what you think.