Am I anemic and is it a problem?

September 1, 2009 5:14 PM

I'm currently applying for life insurance, and I'm wondering 1) how likely is it that I'm still anemic after recent blood loss, and 2) if I am, will that increase my life insurance rates?

I had a baby about two months ago, and I hemmorhaged significantly after his birth. I received several units of blood the day he was born and again the day after. I think my hemoglobin was right around 8 when I was discharged from the hospital. I took iron supplements for a month. Given that I'm relatively young and healthy, would you expect me to still be significantly anemic two months later?

If I am anemic, does anyone know if that would affect my life insurance rates? Does the fact that I know why I'm anemic make any difference, will they care? We have a nurse coming next week and I'm wondering if I need to push back the exam or get my blood tested in advance? Thanks!!

posted by robinpME to health & fitness (5 comments total)

...hemorrhage...
posted by robinpME at 5:16 PM on September 1

I haven't held an insurance license in years, IANYAgent: Anemia might not be a high-risk condition, but could certainly push you into a higher rate bracket depending on the company, so you might want to assume that, if your bloodwork comes back weird, you'll be more expensive.

Since you're anemia is occurring under the supervision of a doctor, go in and have the doctor check it for you first - your health insurance will probably even pay for most/all of it; it's not an unusual request given your history. It might take a couple days to get in and get the results, so if you go this route, get in soon. If the blood test comes back low, tell the insurance company you've decided to wait, and don't go to the insurance company until the doctor says you're back to normal. I'm not a doctor, but if you go a long time without recovering from anemia, you might have something more serious, which would be a good reason to keep checking with the doctor.

If you're really worried about it and are concerned a bad blood draw now will follow you (which it might, with the same insurer), put it off -- if it's term life, you aren't losing anything by waiting. Whole life, you run the risk of losing some cash value in the long run, but it'll be minor. About the only risk is *knock on wood* dying in the meantime. Waiting years might put you in a different age bracket; I'm talking 6 months or a year or so.

Keep in mind: the blood draw might come with a questionnaire, which might have a box to check if you've experienced x, y, or z recently - even if your blood draw comes back fine, a box checked "anemia" might still count against you.

One last option, depending on the insurance company: if you get a high risk categorization, you may be able to appeal to an underwriter, citing extraneous circumstances for the anemia. You don't have a bad liver or kidneys, don't have bone cancer, etc., etc., and you have a doctor who can vouch for you, so you might be able to appeal a high risk categorization - a "clean bill of health" from your doctor might go a long way. It won't go well for you if you hide health conditions on a questionnaire, though. If you're going through an agent, talk to the agent, explain your situation and see if they can help. If you're buying directly, see if you can talk to somebody in underwriting, or a supervisor/manager, see what information you can get out of them. They might also be able to tell you how long, if you have a bad blood draw, you have to wait before a good result overrides the high risk rating.
posted by AzraelBrown at 6:58 PM on September 1

Congratulations on your new baby!

Good question, in that with how discerning insurance carriers are, you are wise to be concerned with how they will review/adjust your rates.

IANYD, but I am a lab tech who is quite familiar with Hgb testing and I'd suggest that your Hgb has probably increased at a healthy rate since your delivery (but not necessarily to the level "required" by the insurance company) especially with the extra iron that you took. However, everyone is different and there could be other contributing factors that could affect the rate of your RBC/HGB recovery.

I don't think it would be a bad idea to push back the exam for a month or so for peace of mind AND/OR to have your Hgb tested independently ahead of time if possible.

I was almost turned down completely for health insurance (not life insurance) for having just a trace of blood in my urine (which upon repeat was negative) so I understand why you wouldn't want to potentially jeopardize your chance at a good/reasonable life insurance rate.
posted by ourroute at 7:24 PM on September 1

Given that I'm relatively young and healthy, would you expect me to still be significantly anemic two months later?

Yes, in my experience. I've been significantly anemic twice, and it's taken months of iron supplements to get my levels back up.
posted by The corpse in the library at 3:52 PM on September 2

For anemics from the future: I had my blood tested the week after I asked this question and I was no longer anemic, so recovery in two months is possible.
posted by robinpME at 7:36 PM on October 1