Fact-checked and reviewed by Kiruba Shankar Eswaran or another licensed agent on our team. Read our editorial standards.
This guide is for general educational purposes and is not insurance advice. Product features, availability, and amounts vary by state and by policy. Always review the official plan documents for the full terms, limitations, and exclusions before you buy.
You do not always need US citizenship to qualify for term life insurance. Every carrier reviewed has a route for at least some permanent residents, and several consider temporary visa holders. Some dependent visa holders can also apply. Eligibility still depends on the carrier, status documentation, US residence, financial justification and the complete application.
Most people with high blood pressure can qualify for term life insurance. One published carrier guide describes controlled hypertension as usually eligible for Standard, with a Preferred class possible. Your result depends on your average readings, age, treatment, stability and other cardiovascular risk factors.
Short answer: yes. Many people with diabetes can qualify for term life insurance because insurers often price the condition instead of automatically declining it. Well-controlled type 2 diabetes in an older applicant can qualify for standard rates, although the result depends on the insurer and the applicant's full health history.
The diagnosis alone does not decide the price. Insurers also consider age, control, complications, treatment and the rest of your health history. If you're still deciding whether this type of cover suits you, start with what is term life insurance.
Often, yes. Diabetes is commonly a rated condition, meaning an insurer may charge more rather than decline the application. Poor control, serious complications, a very young age or certain product rules can still lead to a postponement or decline.
The best available outcome is better than most people think. On one insurer's published guidance, type 2 diabetes with onset at age 50 or older may qualify for Standard Plus when the applicant does not use tobacco, has good control and has other favorable risk factors.
Published carrier examples range from standard rates to substantial table ratings. Type 1 is usually priced more cautiously. The sections below explain the factors that move an application within those ranges.
These five factors explain much of the difference between offers:
1. Type Type 2 prices considerably better than Type 1
2. Age and onset Older age and later onset can help
3. Control (A1c) One published guide declines above 10
4. Complications Eye, kidney, nerve or circulatory involvement
5. Everything else Tobacco, weight, blood pressure: these compound
Applications commonly ask about each of these factors, and the combination can change the outcome. Two people who both say "I have type 2 diabetes" can be quoted very differently.
This is the single most surprising thing about diabetes underwriting, and almost nobody explains it.
Older applicants and people diagnosed later in life can receive better treatment.
That can feel counterintuitive, but insurers consider both your current age and how long you have had the condition. Earlier onset can mean more years of exposure to complication risk. Control, complications and treatment still matter, so age alone never determines the offer.
One insurer's published guidance for well-controlled type 2 diabetes with no complications and no tobacco use is organized by the applicant's current age:
Age at application
20 – 29 ████████████████████████████████▶ +150% to no offer
30 – 49 ████████████████▶ +75% to +150%
50 & up ███▶ standard to +100%
└────────┴────────┴────────┴────────┴────────┘
0% 50% 100% 150% 200%
At 50 and over, Standard rates are possible in this guide. At 25, the same person may not get an offer at all.
Early onset is treated cautiously. One insurer lists diagnosis before age 5 among the cases it generally will not insure. Another declines diabetic applicants who are currently under age 20. Those are different rules, which is why current age and age at diagnosis should not be treated as the same factor.
The practical takeaway: if you were diagnosed later in life and your diabetes is well controlled, ask for a carrier comparison before assuming you will receive a high rating.
Well controlled, no complications, no tobacco use: on one insurer's published ladder:
| Your age | Rating range | What that means on price |
|---|---|---|
| Under 20 | Decline | No offer |
| 20 – 29 | +150% to decline | The hardest band |
| 30 – 49 | +75% to +150% | Roughly 1.75× to 2.5× standard |
| 50 and up | Standard to +100% | Standard rates are possible |
Every figure above carries three conditions: well controlled, no complications, and no tobacco use. Those qualifiers do enormous work. A different control level, complication history or tobacco status can change the result, which is why the actionable list below starts with tobacco and A1c.
Separately, another insurer states that Standard Plus may be available when onset was at 50 or older, with non-tobacco status, good control and favorable risk factors.
This is where insurers diverge. Two published class grids require no personal history of diabetes for their best classes. A third allows Standard Plus for some late-onset, well-controlled type 2 cases.
Best available outcome with type 2 diabetes
Insurer A ██████████████ Standard, no preferred tier
Insurer B ██████████████ Standard, no preferred tier
Insurer C ███████████████████████ Standard Plus may be available, if onset 50+
For the right profile, that can be the difference between Standard and Standard Plus. It is easy to miss unless you compare insurers before applying.
Type 1 is priced more cautiously, because it involves lifelong insulin, an earlier typical onset, and tighter control requirements.
Well controlled, no complications, no tobacco use:
| Your age | Rating range |
|---|---|
| Under 20 | Decline |
| 20 – 29 | +200% to decline |
| 30 and up | +150% to +200% |
Another insurer lists type 1 over age 20 in a +50% to +200% band, which is meaningfully wider at the good end. Its guide does not specify whether that age refers to diagnosis or current age, so treat it as indicative.
Two points worth holding onto:
Coverage may still be available. A rating of +150% means you pay 2.5 times the standard premium, not that you're uninsurable. On a policy that would cost a healthy person $30 a month, that's $75.
The spread between insurers is wide here. One company's published floor for type 1 is +150%; another's is +50%. That is why a carrier comparison matters before you apply.
Insurance guides talk in "tables". Here's the translation, since it's rarely explained.
Each table adds about 25% to the standard premium. Standard is the baseline, and the ladder runs upward from there:
| Table | Added to standard | You pay |
|---|---|---|
| Standard | 0% | 1.0× |
| Table 2 | +50% | 1.5× |
| Table 4 | +100% | 2.0× |
| Table 6 | +150% | 2.5× |
| Table 8 | +200% | 3.0× |
| Table 12 | +300% | 4.0× |
Standard ██████ 1.0×
Table 2 █████████ 1.5×
Table 4 ████████████ 2.0×
Table 6 ███████████████ 2.5×
Table 8 ██████████████████ 3.0×
Two things soften this more than people expect.
A rating changes the premium, not the death benefit. Within the same policy, the term, contractual benefits and claims process do not change because of a table rating.
The base can be better than Standard. One insurer in the research calculates substandard premiums from its Standard Plus rate, so the percentage is applied to that starting rate.
Most of diabetes underwriting is a sliding scale. Two things are closer to a switch.
One insurer states plainly that an A1c over 10 results in a decline. The other local guides reviewed do not provide a comparable numeric cutoff.
If your last A1c was over 10, work with your doctor on your health first. An insurer may want to see a documented period of improved control before reconsidering an application. A better reading can help, but it does not guarantee an offer.
Insurers look specifically for evidence that diabetes has begun affecting other systems:
| Complication | What it's called |
|---|---|
| Eye involvement | Retinopathy |
| Kidney involvement | Nephropathy |
| Nerve involvement | Neuropathy |
| Circulatory problems | Peripheral vascular disease |
Also asked about: amputations, skin ulcers, recurrent infections, and any heart or kidney disorder.
One simplified-issue guide declines diabetes with any complications. Fully underwritten carriers may assess the type, severity and stability of each complication individually. This is why applications ask detailed questions about complications.
Insulin use does not automatically prevent you from getting fully underwritten coverage. It can, however, make you ineligible for some accelerated or instant-decision programs.
Fast applications often screen out conditions that need individual review. Diabetes treated with insulin appears on some disqualifier lists for accelerated or fluidless underwriting programs, alongside conditions such as coronary artery disease and stroke. A no-exam policy is not necessarily a simplified-issue policy, and some fully underwritten cases can be completed without an exam.
That produces a confusing experience:
Insulin-treated diabetes
│
├─▶ Some instant-decision programs ❌ May be ineligible
│
└─▶ Fully underwritten application ✅ Individual review may be available
Being turned down by an instant online application is not the same as being uninsurable. It may mean that the product cannot individually assess insulin-treated diabetes. A fully underwritten carrier may be able to review the case.
If you take insulin, consider speaking with an advisor before choosing a fast application. The advisor can identify a product that is able to review your individual history.
Sometimes the deciding issue is not diabetes alone. It is diabetes plus something else.
On simplified-issue products, combination rules do the work:
| Combination | Typical outcome |
|---|---|
| Diabetes alone, well controlled | May be accepted, often rated |
| Diabetes over 45 * + raised BMI | Declined |
| Diabetes over 45 * + tobacco or nicotine | Declined |
| Diabetes over 45 * + peripheral vascular disease | Declined |
| Diabetes + any complication, at any age | Declined |
* Age 50 rather than 45 in California and the Virgin Islands. The insurer also notes this isn't a complete list.
These outcomes come from one simplified-issue guide, not a market-wide rule. For that product, diabetes over age 45 combined with any one of the listed factors results in a decline.
Two of those factors have guides of their own. Our guide to term life insurance BMI and weight charts covers where the build limits sit and how the rated bands work. Blood pressure often travels with diabetes, and our guide to term life insurance with high blood pressure sets out the readings each rate class needs and how medication is treated.
One insurer states the mechanism directly: multiple impairments resulting in a rating greater than Table 4 will be declined on its simplified products.
For this product, ratings can be cumulative and diabetes can use much of the available rating range:
Simplified product headroom
Table 0 ├────────────────────────────────┤ Table 4 ◄ ceiling
██████████████████ diabetes over 45
██████████ + build, tobacco or PVD
✗ past the ceiling: declined
That is why a second factor can decide the outcome in the published examples. A fully underwritten policy may have higher table ratings available, but acceptance is never guaranteed.
Notice tobacco appears twice: in the combination rules and in the qualifying conditions for every better rating quoted above ("well controlled, no complications, and no tobacco use").
Tobacco use can raise the rating and remove eligibility for the favorable end of a carrier's range. One insurer withdraws its concession for occasional cigar smokers if diabetes is present. Light cigar use can otherwise be treated at non-tobacco rates, but not alongside a comorbid condition like diabetes or asthma.
If you have diabetes and smoke, quitting may materially improve your options. Ask an advisor how long you must be tobacco-free before a particular carrier will reconsider your rate class.
Gestational diabetes is treated as its own thing, and far more leniently.
During pregnancy, an insurer may postpone an application, especially when there are current or prior pregnancy complications. One carrier's guide lists a resolved history of gestational diabetes at Standard to Table 2, or about standard to +50%.
Some insurers also postpone during pregnancy where there were complications such as pre-eclampsia or gestational diabetes in a current or prior pregnancy.
Prediabetes is not the same diagnosis as diabetes. The local carrier guides reviewed for this article do not publish a separate prediabetes rating range. Declare it accurately so the insurer can evaluate it with the rest of your health history.
Diabetes applications go beyond a yes/no. Expect to supply:
Have your last two A1c results and a list of medications to hand before you start. Applications frequently stall at this point, not because of the answers but because people don't have them ready.
An insurer may request an Attending Physician's Statement, which is a copy or summary of records from your doctor. Requirements vary by carrier, age, policy amount and the details of your diabetes.
Type 1 or insulin-treated cases may require individual underwriting even when a carrier offers faster decisions for other applicants.
Some insurers offer underwriting credits for favorable factors such as a good cholesterol ratio, normal recent cardiac testing, family history and regular preventive care. Eligibility is carrier-specific, and some programs apply only to cases already eligible for Standard or better.
In order of impact.
1. Stop smoking, if you do. The better ratings are explicitly conditional on non-tobacco status, and the combination rules decline diabetes plus tobacco outright on some products. Nothing else you can do moves the price as far.
2. Work with your doctor on A1c control and keep records. An A1c above 10 is a decline at one insurer in the research. Below that, the trend and overall health history still matter.
3. Choose the route carefully if you use insulin. Some instant-decision products cannot assess insulin-treated diabetes, while fully underwritten products can review it individually.
4. Deal with the secondary factors. Weight and blood pressure compound with diabetes on simplified products and add ratings on underwritten ones. Improving one of those may matter more than improving the diabetes itself.
5. Don't apply blindly. The spread between insurers on type 1 alone runs from +50% to +150% at the good end. Applying without checking the guidelines first can waste time and may leave you explaining a prior decline on future applications.
6. Have your paperwork ready. A1c results, medication list, physician details, dates.
A decline from one insurer isn't a decline from the market. With diabetes specifically, the reason usually points at the fix.
| Why you were declined | What to try |
|---|---|
| A1c too high | Work with your doctor, then ask when the insurer will reconsider |
| Applied to a no-exam product with insulin | A fully underwritten application |
| Complications present | An insurer with a longer rated ladder; guaranteed issue if not |
| Diagnosed very young | Specialist underwriting; guaranteed issue as a fallback |
| Combination of factors | Address the secondary factor: usually tobacco or weight |
Guaranteed issue coverage asks no health questions and does not decline applicants on health grounds. Amounts are usually lower, and coverage for natural-cause death may have a waiting period. For long-standing type 1 with complications, it may be an option to compare with underwritten coverage.
Diabetes doesn't have one price. It has a range, and where you land in it depends as much on where you apply as on your A1c.
We work with multiple insurers and bring them together into one seamless product. You answer one set of questions. We handle which insurer sees it, and what happens if the first answer isn't the right one.
And it costs nothing extra. Life insurance rates are filed with state regulators, so you pay the same premium through us as you would going direct.
Well controlled, diet or tablet managed? Start a term life quote. On insulin, diagnosed young, or complications on record? Speak to an advisor first: that's where the difference is biggest.
This guide describes how life insurance underwriting generally works, based on the published underwriting rules of the insurers Eleos works with. It isn't advice, it isn't a quote, and it isn't medical guidance. Individual outcomes depend on your full application. Figures are indicative and current as of August 2026.