Gestational Diabetes and Life Insurance in 2024

Last Updated on December 11, 2024

Gestational Diabetes and Life Insurance

When it comes to diabetes, most people refer to either type 1 or type 2 diabetes. But, did you know that there is another type of diabetes known as gestational diabetes? While it may be less common, it still grabs the attention of underwriters and could potentially make it difficult to obtain life insurance. Gestational diabetes, or diabetes will be a question that every life insurance company will ask about on the application.

It is possible, and easy to obtain life insurance with gestational diabetes. You simply need to work with agents who are properly trained in working with the diabetes community, such as Diabetes 365!!! We know all the tips to get better rates on life insurance with diabetes. Finding affordable life insurance with gestational diabetes is much easier than you probably imagine.

What every consumer needs to realize is that every life insurance company will view your gestational diabetes differently.  One company may rate you higher, while another may NOT access any additional premiums to your policy. We’ve successfully helped many women apply for life insurance with gestational diabetes, and be approved for Preferred rates.  These are the same type of life insurance ratings that non diabetics qualify for.  Don’t let other websites trick you with fake information and tell you that you can’t receive rates better than Standard.

Many people who have a history of gestational diabetes feel that their policy will be rated or higher or will be charged more expensive premiums.  That’s simply not the case.  Certain life insurance companies will offer Standard, Standard Plus, and Preferred ratings with a recent history of gestational diabetes.  Best of all, some companies may not even require an examination for amounts of life insurance up to $2 million.  Sadly, many online websites provide misleading information about the rates people with gestational diabetes will qualify for.  You’ll want to avoid places like Policy Genius, Select Quote, Fidelity Life and others as they are not properly trained to work with people who have a diabetes history.

To obtain life insurance information specific to your unique situation, simply complete an online quote request.  A licensed agent will contact you, and will ask for basic health and diabetes history information.  Once the agent knows more about your health profile, real and accurate life insurance quotes can be provided to you.  It will be impossible to recommend specific life insurance providers until you’ve shared your health profile with an agent.

Let’s take a look at gestational diabetes and how it may have an impact on your life insurance. Hint, it has LESS impact than you probably imagine!!

What is Gestational Diabetes?

Gestational Diabetes is a form of diabetes that affects pregnant women. It occurs in women who have not had any prior signs or diagnosis of diabetes before pregnancy, but during this period they experience high blood glucose levels. Typically, it develops between the 24th and the 28th week of pregnancy.

Here are some statistics from FitPregnancy:

Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), or high blood sugar during pregnancy, used to be relatively rare, occurring in about 3 percent to 4 percent of pregnancies. But in recent years, the rate has doubled—now, up to 6 percent to 8 percent of moms-to-be are diagnosed with this prenatal complication. And new recommendations lowering the cutoff point for diagnosis may lead to an even more dramatic increase. (Image Credit DiabNext)

Who’s Most at Risk?

Some of the latest research findings about gestational diabetes:

+ Women who gain excess weight in the first trimester are at higher risk, according to a 2010 study published in Obstetrics and Gynecology. The association was even stronger among women who started their pregnancies overweight, a study at Kaiser Permanente Medical Group in Oakland, Calif., found.

+ Korean-American and Filipino-American women have twice the risk of GDM compared with Caucasian and African-American women, another recent Kaiser Permanente study found.

+ Women who drink five or more sugar-sweetened sodas a week before conceiving have a higher GDM risk, according to a study conducted by Harvard University and Louisiana State University.

+ Women with gum disease have higher odds of developing GDM than women with healthy gums, a New York University study found.

+ Frequent snorers have a 14.3 percent chance of developing GDM, compared with a 3.3 percent chance for women who don’t snore, according to a Northwestern University study.

The exact cause of this type of diabetes is unknown, but during pregnancy, your body produces an increased level of hormones, including human placental lactogen (hPL) and hormones that increase insulin resistance. These hormones work to protect the placenta and sustain the pregnancy. Over time, however, the number of hormones in your body increases dramatically. And, eventually, your body may begin to be resistant to insulin.

Insulin is used to move glucose and turn it into energy. When you are pregnant, your baby needs to receive some of the glucose, too. So, naturally, your body will become slightly resistant to insulin. When this resistance becomes too great, blood glucose levels will rise uncharacteristically.

This is when gestational diabetes becomes developed.

Symptoms and risk

The symptoms for gestational diabetes are very similar to those of other forms. Here are the most common:

• Fatigue
• Blurry vision
• Excessive thirst
• Increased urination
• Snoring

It is important to note, however, that most often there are no signs or symptoms experienced by the pregnant individual.

When it comes to who is at risk for developing gestational diabetes, know that anyone who is pregnant has a possibility of developing it. However, those who possess any of the below characteristics are at an increased risk.

• Over the age of 25
• A history of high blood pressure
• A family history of diabetes
• Overweight before becoming pregnant
• Gain more weight than normal during pregnancy
• Expecting multiple babies

How Gestational Diabetes affects your life insurance application

Believe it or not, although gestational diabetes is a form of diabetes, insurance companies do not treat it the same as other forms of the disease. Technically, gestational diabetes only lasts during the pregnancy. So, it is temporary. Because once the mother gives birth, the body will return to its prior, healthy, non-diabetic state. But companies are going to want to know more about your gestational diabetes history, and treatment history.

What happens for life insurance underwriters, however, is that they take a look at your lifestyle, family history, and such. In their opinion, if your body developed gestational diabetes, how likely are you to develop type 2 diabetes in the future?

In other words, this temporary condition could cause you to be viewed as a higher risk for life insurance companies. Or, depending on a review of your complete health profile, you may NOT be viewed as a higher risk due to your gestational diabetes history. This could be a COMPLETE non issue for you!!!

To find out what rates you may qualify for, simply contact us, and speak with an agent. In the event you’ve been declined due to your history of diabetes, don’t get upset.  Just reach out to us, and let us help you out. Our agents will take down some basic health information, from you, and can then determine what companies and what rates you could obtain coverage from.

What we tend to see for most applicants that have a history of gestational diabetes is that you’ll most likely have NO issues in being approved for coverage.  Gestational diabetes life insurance is easy to qualify for.  Also, in lots of situations, you will not have to even complete a medical examination.  Our clients are receiving Preferred rates with select insurance companies that we work with.

Future Type 2 diagnosis or family history?

Approximately half of those who suffer from gestational diabetes will go on to develop type 2 diabetes in the future. Consider this:

Mother X had never been diabetic before, but she developed gestational diabetes during her pregnancy. Afterward, while raising her little baby boy, she continued to follow a strong lifestyle of whole foods and fitness. She went on to live a long, healthy life. Because she took great care of herself, she never developed type 2 diabetes.

This type of individual would have NO problems obtaining diabetes life insurance coverage. In fact, she may qualify for Preferred Plus or Preferred rates, with certain life insurance companies.

Mother Y had never been diabetic before her pregnancy, but she developed gestational diabetes. After the birth of her baby boy, diabetes disappeared, and she never again gave it much thought. She tried to take care of herself, but life got busy and she didn’t eat as she should and never had time for much exercise. Mother Y became pre-diabetic before her 40th birthday and went on to develop type 2 diabetes.

A person with this type of health profile, would still qualify for coverage. However, their rates may be more expensive, compared to a person without any type of diabetes. To read on how to get best life insurance rates for type 2 diabetics, click on this link.

Life Insurance Underwriters know to look at the chances of whether or not the individual will go on to develop type 2 diabetes – which means she would be a much greater risk to life insurance companies. The underwriters take into consideration the medical history prior to the pregnancy to see whether the mother was in good health. In addition, viewing the family history for a common factor of developing diabetes (which is a much more legitimate way to determine risk). Whether fair or not, both of these findings may be used by life insurance providers when making their determination.

The best thing to do, is to speak with an agent, and share your complete health profile with them. All life insurance companies will review your profile differently. One company may rate your policy 25% to 50% more expensive while another life insurance company wouldn’t charge you any higher premiums. Don’t feel like you have to do this alone though! Simply reach out to an agent at Diabetes 365 , and put our expertise to work for you and your family!  Without sharing detailed gestational diabetes information to an agent, it will be impossible to determine what the best life insurance company for gestational diabetics will be.

What health information do insurance companies want?

Be prepared when applying for life insurance coverage as you will likely have to supply the underwriter with some medical history and potentially undergo a medical exam since you developed gestational diabetes. If you prefer not to have companies collect blood and urine samples from you, there would most likely be no medical exam life insurance options. This information will likely include:

• Whether you are currently pregnant or intend to become pregnant.
• Detailed information concerning your gestational diabetes, whether you have it now or had it in the past. It is very important to disclose your diabetes history on an insurance application.
• Information on medication that was/is taken for gestational diabetes, including the name of medicine, dosage, and how long you took it. You will also need to provide a list of all the other medications you currently take.
• A detailed review of your family history, including high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, etc. You’ll also want to note your recent A1C readings as this will be required by an Underwriter.
• Your smoking habits and/or alcohol consumption. Also, any drug use or drug abuse history.

All of this information is put together to form an overall health profile for you.  While applying, you must disclose your diabetes history on the application.  There’s no way to hide this.  Most likely you’ve been prescribed a form of medication for gestational diabetes, and this will show up in the prescription drug background report.  Underwriters will then put you into a health rating category that’s decided by your health profile. These are:

Preferred Plus / Preferred

This is for those individuals in stellar health with no family history of risky health conditions. Those in this category get the lowest possible rates. If you have an exercise program, watch your diet and overall health, tend to receive these favorable rates.

Standard Plus / Standard

If you are in pretty good health with a minimal family history, then you will likely fall into this category. It means that while you may have some minor health issues, overall you are in good health. You will still get a decent insurance rate. Majority of applicants without any type of diabetes tend to fall into this category. If you’re in average health with a history of gestational diabetes, you’ll probably fall into these two underwriting classifications.

Substandard

This final category is for those that are at the highest risk for life insurance companies – and will pay the highest premiums. Only individuals with poor overall health history will fall into this category. Rarely are we seeing our clients with gestational diabetes fall into this category, unless there’s a history of severe health issues.

The above life insurance classifications will determine your final premiums.  After an underwriter reviews your health profile, they’ll approve you at one of the above ratings.  Preferred rates will be less expensive than Standard Plus or Standard ratings.  The Substandard ratings would be considerably more expensive than all other ratings.  But, like we mentioned, very rarely is a person going to be in this category unless there are severe health issues at time of application, or within the last few years.

Sample Gestational Diabetes Life Insurance Quotes

Here are some sample quotes, for Non Tobacco users.  These quotes are showing Standard to Preferred rates.

You will benefit from working with us

Perhaps your best option for obtaining affordable life insurance if you have or have had gestational diabetes is to contact an independent agent – especially one that specializes in your condition. Diabetes 365 was created to help people with all types of Diabetes, find affordable life insurance coverage.  Let us be a resource to you and your family.

Our agents know what life insurance companies offer the lowest rates for the best coverage based on your health profile. So, we will only recommend the ideal companies, given your health profile and financial goals.  Diabetes 365 was created to help out the diabetes community with their life insurance needs.  Since we only work with diabetics, we assure you that nobody is better at our jobs than us.

Also, when you work with us, we will help you determine what type of policy is best for yourself. Maybe term life insurance or whole life insurance? We will let you weigh the pros and cons of the various life insurance options. Or maybe you are unsure of how much life insurance coverage you need. We’ll help you determine how much life insurance is needed to protect your family.

 If you opt to apply for a policy that requires a blood and urine test, as well as a review of medical records, we will assist you with all of this.  This is referred to as a paramedical examination.  Our staff helps you schedule this, and most importantly there are NO expenses to you for these services.

You won’t need to do multiple tests. We can use your information to run it past all the competitive life insurance companies to determine what company is the best fit for you. Our clients experience nothing but the highest level of customer service, when working with us.  At the end of the application process, we’ll present to you final offers, and help you choose the best life insurance policy possible.

Gestational diabetes won’t keep you from getting an affordable life insurance policy, but it will make the process a little more trickier. Don’t waste your time trying to do it alone. Contact us and let US do all the work on your behalf. We’ve helped thousands of the diabetes community find affordable life insurance coverage. Let us earn your business today!