I got turned down for life insurance years ago for a funny looking spot on my ECG. Or rather, they offered to insure me at a cost of $10,000+ per year.

I went to a local guy who insures a lot of people I know and he told me that different companies focus on different things. He found me several good companies that were willing to insure me at a fraction of the cost of my original offer.

I'm sure you can find other options. You may have to enlist the help of an agent that works with multiple companies.

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Jason
None of the secrets of success will work unless you do.

Definitely shop it around. I don't know what "pots" is but based on what you say about your medical history there's a good chance another carrier may rate you differently.
Are you doing this on your own?

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"I think I've cracked the code. double letters are cheaters except for perfect squares (a, d, i, p and y). So Leddy isn't a cheater... "

Why do you want to buy life insurance?

I wonder the same thing. Before you're financially independent it makes sense to carry some form of group term life insurance if you have a family...if not...why bother? So let's assume you do. Tons of places will do 2x, 3x, maybe even 4x annual salary without an exam at a tiny fraction of what you're talking about. I think I'm at around 4x through my employer's group plan and honestly don't even know how much it costs me...maybe $10/month? If I croak it will easily pay off all of my family's debts and then some. Add the leftovers to the investments we already have in retirement accounts and my wife can retire early.

Once we become actually financially independent I'll cancel any life coverage. If I croak it will be, financially speaking, a good thing since the existing investment portfolio would have to feed fewer people.

Good thinking outside the box.

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They constantly try to escape from the darkness outside and within
Dreaming of systems so perfect that no one will need to be good T.S. Eliot

Definitely shop for other insurance companies. They all have different strategies about life insurance. I have my life insurance in California MIS (https://www.mis-insurance.com/life-insurance/) and I got it with my auto- and home insurances. So they really didn't check my medical history. I have some bonuses there because I'm a valued customer, but it doesn't me a big money. For life insurance, I pay $15 per month. Honestly, I don't remember how much is covered up, but I know that here coverage options start at $50,000 and go all the way up to $1 million. Just make a list of insurance companies in your region and then ask for quotes in all of these companies and then make a comparison. I'm sure you'll get what you need. There is a lot of fish in this river :)

I'm sure it works differently over your hemisphere of the globe, but here they slap exclusions on things they deem high risk. I had my circa 2008 policy reviewed when I changed brokers, increasing my lump sum payout and changing the manner in which the premiums were deducted. So I had to retake the questionnaires. I thought I'd be honest so ticked the boxes for having had a cyst (hip, running related but with no labral tear) and that I'd taken anti-depressants for a few months a few years earlier following my separation. Up came two exclusions for mental health and any hip surgery. I was really pissed. Like no one has suffered depression from a relationship breakdown or redundancy etc. Got the psych to say I wasn't 'suicidal' etc so they lifted that but the hip exclusion remained.

About the same time that I separated I'd copped a whack in the chest from the SO that I suspected may have cracked a rib. My sis did a scan on me and it came away inconclusive but they separately noted something heart related. They didn't document it and instead said if I don't already (I did) get my insurances done. I guess the message I'd make here is that if you don't have insurance and thinking of it, get it before you get any formal medicals done, where possible.

It's strange, here it's illegal for private health insurance companies to charge different premiums for people with known conditions but apparently not for life/income protection insurers.

This is going to become a real issue with genetic testing becoming more and more common. Insurance is based on pooled risk but that goes out the window when you know the odds of something based on a genetic test. One thing I would say to never, never do is lie on an insurance application. I had a patient who died unexpectedly at a young age and his widow was denied his death benefit because the insurance company found out he lied about his weight on an insurance application.

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They constantly try to escape from the darkness outside and within
Dreaming of systems so perfect that no one will need to be good T.S. Eliot

The whole Gattaca scenario is becoming more likely by the year. Will there come a time when people only marry after they've viewed a partners genetic code (or govt's granting licences to have children only if they won't be a burden)? Far fetched maybe now, but who knows.

I'm not sure it can still be called insurance if providers are eliminating more and more risk. Makes perfect sense from a business perspective but is highly discriminatory. If it's illegal to discriminate based on race, gender, sexuality etc then why should genetics get a free pass? Another aspect an individual has no say over. Will the time comes that this gets challenged in court?

Was there a massive discrepancy over your clients weight? Who is to say he didn't pile it on later - no doubt the investigators snooped Facebook pics etc.

Don't you just love insurance companies? How'd they even find that? No way they did without extensive digging...... He shouldn't have lied. They shouldn't have found that exclusion either.

I don't understand. You changed insurance brokers so they reviewed your policy and increased your premium ?

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"I think I've cracked the code. double letters are cheaters except for perfect squares (a, d, i, p and y). So Leddy isn't a cheater... "

It was advised that my life insurance should be higher (and some other tweaks) but that I could reduce my take home costs by having premiums deducted by what I believe is our equivalent of your 401.

I guess it was sufficient change for the same provider to request I retake the quiz

I got it now. I didn't read what you said thoroughly enough. I thought you were saying the carrier reviewed your policy and made the premium change. My immediate thought was WTF is that. But I see what you're saying now. You changed the benefit.

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"I think I've cracked the code. double letters are cheaters except for perfect squares (a, d, i, p and y). So Leddy isn't a cheater... "