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Can you get life insurance with atrial fibrillation?

Usually yes, and often at competitive rates. Carriers distinguish between lone AF in an otherwise healthy person and AF alongside structural heart disease. Being anticoagulated helps the file rather than hurting it.

Atrial fibrillation is one of the conditions where the conventional wisdom is furthest out of date. It is common, it is manageable, and it is widely written.

The distinction that decides it

Lone AF — atrial fibrillation with no underlying structural heart disease, a normal ejection fraction and no other cardiac history — is often underwritten mildly, and standard rates are achievable at some carriers.

AF alongside structural disease — valve disease, cardiomyopathy, a prior infarct — is assessed as part of that larger picture rather than on its own.

Whether the AF is paroxysmal, persistent or permanent matters, as does whether it has been treated with ablation and whether that held.

Anticoagulation is a positive

Applicants frequently apologise for being on a blood thinner. Underwriters read it the other way: AF raises stroke risk, anticoagulation reduces it, and an adherent prescription record is evidence of managed risk. Gaps in refills read badly. The medication itself does not.

What to have ready

A recent ECG or Holter report, your echocardiogram result including ejection fraction, your CHA₂DS₂-VASc score if it has been calculated, and a current medication list with the anticoagulant and its start date.

This is research, not advice. No Exam Life Insurance Online is an independent publisher, not a carrier or agency, and sells nothing. Underwriting outcomes vary by carrier, by state and by individual file, and carriers revise their guides without notice. Confirm anything that affects a decision with an agent licensed in your state before you apply.

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