Yes, though not immediately. Most carriers apply a postpone period after a cardiac event, and after that the file is priced on your age at the event, your ejection fraction, and whether the underlying cause is controlled.
A heart attack does not close the market. It changes the timetable, and it changes who you should apply to.
The postpone period comes first
No carrier will underwrite during or immediately after a cardiac event. There is a waiting period before a file can be assessed at all, and practitioners typically report something in the region of six to twelve months for a single uncomplicated event, longer where there were complications or repeat events. Those are conventions rather than published thresholds, for the reasons set out on our how underwriting works page.
What decides the outcome afterwards
Age at the event carries more weight than most applicants expect. A heart attack at 63 reads very differently from one at 41, because early cardiac disease usually indicates something systemic that has not been fully characterised.
After that: your ejection fraction, whether there has been more than one event, what was done about it, and above all whether the underlying cause is now controlled. An event caused by hypertension that is now well managed is a different file from the same event with blood pressure still uncontrolled.
Cover in the meantime
During the postpone window, guaranteed issue asks no health questions and will bridge the gap. Holding it does not stop you applying properly later, and the two are not mutually exclusive.
The full treatment of this topic is on Heart and stroke.