Can I get life insurance with diabetes?

The underwriting questions are predictable: A1C readings over the last year or two, date of diagnosis, age at diagnosis, current medications, and any history of complications. Carriers also consider height, weight, blood pressure, cholesterol, and whether you use tobacco, because diabetes is underwritten alongside overall cardiovascular risk rather than in isolation.

Control matters more than the diagnosis itself. An applicant with a stable A1C and no complications may land a standard health class, while poorly controlled readings push the same person into a table rating that costs meaningfully more per month. This is one of the clearest cases where the numbers on your last two lab reports directly determine your premium.

Fully underwritten term coverage is available to many applicants with type 2 diabetes and to some with type 1, especially where control is good and there are no complications. If a standard policy is not viable, simplified-issue and accelerated-underwriting products ask health questions without a full paramedical exam and are more forgiving on diabetes.

For more advanced or complicated cases, final expense coverage and guaranteed-issue policies remain available. At least one guaranteed-issue option in Texas uses no health questions at all, though it pays a limited benefit during an initial waiting period, so it works as a last resort rather than a first choice.

Bring current A1C results and a medication list to the conversation rather than letting the carrier infer from a bare application, and be accurate about dates and dosages. Getting the details right avoids a delivery of a modified offer later. It also helps to work with an agent who can price the same history across several carriers, because Texas carriers do not treat controlled diabetes identically.