Life insurance advice needed. How long to wait post-op before applying???

I had asked another member this question quite a while back and her response was saved in my bookmarks, however, now they are gone!   :/

So..I ask again.  Does anyone know about life insurance after RNY?  About 4ish years ago, I applied for it and was turned down, I am assuming because of my weight and the fact that I had gestational diabetes, and high blood pressure in my history.

So I am down to just "overweight" now, and It has been 2 years since surgery.  How long should I wait to apply again?  Will that previous denial ever be off of my records?  I really would like to have it since I have young children and would never want to leave my family with less than they'd need.

Does anyone have any experience with this??

HI Marny

Back in 2005 I applied for life insurance after I had lost 100 pounds. That was Primerica and they would not approve me until I had maintained that for a year, and by that year I had lost another 30 pounds

That was then.

i think you need a stable weight for a year.  They don't care so much about the surgery but if you answer within a year you will uncover the surgery for them and unstable weight sends up red flags for them, again they don't really care why they just know its more often a risk and limiting their risk is what life insurance is all about from their perspective.  Once you are stable for a year give it a try.  Make sure you're dealing with a broker of some sort, as some still work for a specific company and their questionnaire may be more detailed (if an insurance company logo is on their business card I would check other places).  Once you fill in an app and it goes through their due diligence it is often registered with a central registry so it may be too late to apply elsewhere if that first app gets red flagged for some reason as other company's will see that you had filled in one with xzy company.  I have not sold life insurance for years but this is still currently the case I believe.  

Thanks.  That certainy helps.  I have been stable for the past year for sure (I mean give or take a few pounds).  I am afraid to apply though.  I don't want to be rejected again.

My spouse is a broker and she has me waiting for one year with a stable weight before we apply.  I was turned down a few years ago because of my obesity (healthy otherwise).  Good luck.  I highly recommend if your family needs the insurance coverage you not delay, one never knows what's around the corner...  

I agree.  My hubby has always had it (skinny mini ), and it has always troubled me that I didn't have it.

Marny,

I just went through this as well and everyone is correct your weight has to be stable for a year post-op. 

Thanks for your first hand experience.  Did you have to provide any proof?  Do you know how stable it should be?  Do they mean like within 10 pounds?

I didn't have to provide any proof but I do have to maintain for a year to get the very best rate!

 I applied right after surgery for an increase to what I already had it was suggested to take a larger policy and cancel any mortgage and line of credit insurance we had.( It works our much cheaper in the long run to do it that way...saves us about 150.00 per month)

Right after surgery I was denied and told to reapply again in a year so that's what we did in August.  The insurance company approved me but wanted me to pay a higher rate for 1 year and told me after 1 year if my weight remained the same within reason they will drop it to the rate it should be.

Our insurance agent bargained with them and got us a rate that was between the actual and the higher but was reasonable to us. (They try to get you any way they can).

Hope it works out for you!!