As you all may know I retired a couple years ago. I had a life insurance policy that provided 200k insurance over a term of 20 Years. Well, the 20 years have passed and I have started looking for another policy. I am aware that it would be more but the initial quote set me back. The company wants twice the amount of money for half the time and half the insured amount. Mrs. Pal and I talked about this and decided to make the purchase. After getting the physical it turned out my PSA was up slightly, I know this can be the result of sex, anyway, they want to double their rate. So I would be getting half the insurance for half the time at four times the price. FYI, they say my PSA was 7.01. I don't know how high this really is. Any thoughts? Thanks in advance.


Jim

If you're a government employee or former gov' employee, contact WAEPA out of Falls Church, VA. They're non-profit and just about the lowest cost life insurance you can buy. Also very reputable.

quote:

Originally posted by Pal:
As you all may know I retired a couple years ago. I had a life insurance policy that provided 200k insurance over a term of 20 Years. Well, the 20 years have passed and I have started looking for another policy. I am aware that it would be more but the initial quote set me back. The company wants twice the amount of money for half the time and half the insured amount. Mrs. Pal and I talked about this and decided to make the purchase. After getting the physical it turned out my PSA was up slightly, I know this can be the result of sex, anyway, they want to double their rate. So I would be getting half the insurance for half the time at four times the price. FYI, they say my PSA was 7.01. I don't know how high this really is. Any thoughts? Thanks in advance.


Jim

Not a doctor but have experience with PSA numbers. If your PSA number was 7.01 then you should see a urologist asap. PSA numbers range and age

I have no feedback about the insurance part.

At a 7, they are most likely going to do a couple of things. First, a second PSA score is going to happen to verify the first test. No reason to go further until the second blood test comes in. You can abstain for a bit before the test as it may influence the score. (Speak with the doc about it.)

If it is still at a 7, they may suggest another more accurate blood test called a 4k Score which is supposedly more accurate (and more expensive) than the PSA test.

If the 4k Score indicates it, they may suggest going to the next step which is a biopsy.

The tests they do - or not do - may vary depending on your age. So if you're 96, they are not really going to worry about an elevated PSA score.

(Not a doc, just familiar with the process.)

Thanks for the responses so far! Last night I looked at blood tests from six months ago and they were in the 4.0-4.5 range. I am 66 years old so that would put me in the normal range. I will be getting another test at the first of the month. I may have to check other insurance companies, they have basically said they would not lower my rate even if a new test showed me back in the normal range.

Jim

i've known folks with high numbers but no cancer, others with low numbers had cancerous prostate removed.

years ago, kaiser stopped doing psa check because too many false positives.

Not a doc, prostate cancer runs in family so I am aware of some aspects.

7 is high for sure. It can be caused by recent sex, but also an infection or other non-cancer causes. 4.0 is generally a trigger point to look further. Your PSA history is important. If it has been jumping up every year then that means something different than a slow creep over many years. Your family history is important too.

You should be seeing a good urologist at this point, not just a family doc. A course of antibiotics is common with a first high PSA. Antibiotics have an anti-inflammatory action as well as killing a bacterial infection. Your doc might recommend you stop consuming things like coffee and chocolate. For me, chocolate is a bigger antagonist than coffee despite having lower caffeine than coffee. (Chocolate has no caffeine but something very similar). I remain addicted to both coffee and chocolate...

A high PSA ultimately does not mean cancer, it is an indicator of possible unhappiness in the organ which suggests further investigation by a good urologist.

As to the life insurance, it isn't automatically necessary. If others aren't dependent on you for financial survival, it may not make sense. We bumped up our insurance when the kids went to college, but dropped it entirely when they graduated. Insurance salesmen like to way oversell how much you do need. I don't know your circumstances but generically believe life insurance is for younger people with families to support, unless there are special needs. Anyhow, just a thought.

quote:

Originally posted by airbubba:
i've known folks with high numbers but no cancer, others with low numbers had cancerous prostate removed.

years ago, kaiser stopped doing psa check because too many false positives.

The problem is that many men don't get a baseline PSA started when they are around 40. So there is no trend. Then the guy either randomly has one at an older age or he has prostate issues and has one done, and it comes out high. With no baseline the doc has no idea how fast he needs to proceed.

Defensive medicine says do the biopsy, but then a lot of those come back negative. Some men will have bad complications from the biopsy such as infection or worse.

So that led to the guideline of don't do PSA tests.

Regular testing plus family history are important to help the doc make a good plan.

Life insurance agent here. Though I don't write in MI, most of the carriers I do write for are also in MI.

Not too many carriers out there will do large term polices over age 65. I only know of one that will, but there are probably others. If you're interested in whole life, it will be plenty more expensive, but a lot easier to get. You can either get a large policy with full underwriting or stack several small policies with minimal underwriting (no blood test). Feel free to email me if you'd like me to run some numbers for you. I can refer you to an ind. agent in MI.

I would not buy life insurance at your age. Might as well have a burn barrel out back and toss a $10 in every half hour or so.

quote:

I would not buy life insurance at your age. Might as well have a burn barrel out back and toss a $10 in every half hour or so.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Agreed. There are better investments. Life insurance makes sense when you are young and might leave young children and a spouse without support. JMHO

Life insurance is to protect against the loss of your projected income should you die. The premiums for life insurance increases exponentially as you age as your probability of dying as you age increases exponential compared to when you're 30.

The question is: do you still need to protect against the loss of your income should you die? Do you receive a pension? Most pensions give you the option of continuing to pay your surviving spouse a portion of your pension benefits should you die in exchange for decreasing your monthly pension amount.

If you die, your spouse also qualifies for social security spousal benefits in that she will receive the higher of her benefits or your benefits.

Your 401k and IRA savings should go to your wife when you die also except for any complications involving ex-wives.

So what income stream to your household are you needing to insure in case you die? If you don't have any such income stream to protect, I don't see the point of insurance at your age unless you're rich and you want to save on inheritance taxes. Life insurance is used by rich old people by paying high premiums (actually, they just fund the full insurance amount like an annuity) because when they die, the proceeds go to their beneficiaries tax-free because life insurance proceeds are tax-free.

Is your original policy renewable term? If so, what is the renewal rate compared with a completely new policy?

My PSA was up, I was pissing blood after work as well. Went to the Urologist and went through the procedures noted above by several posters and a CT Scan. Turned out I had 4 bladder stones. Had surgery last month to remove them and will get a follow up PSA next month before going in to see the Urologist for a follow up. My takeaway is that the PSA results may be an indicator of something else going on you may not know about so a good Urologist is an important step.

quote:

Originally posted by Fly-Sig:

quote:

Originally posted by airbubba:
i've known folks with high numbers but no cancer, others with low numbers had cancerous prostate removed.

years ago, kaiser stopped doing psa check because too many false positives.

The problem is that many men don't get a baseline PSA started when they are around 40. So there is no trend. Then the guy either randomly has one at an older age or he has prostate issues and has one done, and it comes out high. With no baseline the doc has no idea how fast he needs to proceed.

Defensive medicine says do the biopsy, but then a lot of those come back negative. Some men will have bad complications from the biopsy such as infection or worse.

So that led to the guideline of don't do PSA tests.

Regular testing plus family history are important to help the doc make a good plan.

never above 1.0 for the time with kaiser.

same with local va hospital, never above 1.0. they stopped doing the test when i turned 70, i'm 76.

The other question I would ask is why you think you need life insurance at this time? The primary reason for term life is income replacement for survivors if you die. Since you're retired, you have no (compensated) income to replace.

Normally, you buy term life when you're young, still in the workforce, and supporting a young family. The usual plan is to maintain the policy for its inital term (typically 20-30 years), then drop coverage completely to avoid the high renewal rates. There's always the option to renew for a few more years if necessary, but it just gets way too expensive at some point, and may not even be necessary.

I hope to not need life insurance when I'm 66. But if I were to get cleaned out by an illness or accident that left Mrs. Lee unable to work, I had to refi the house to care for her, etc., then I could need a large face amount for mortgage and income protection.

As it is, I'm 51 and don't want to ever retire. I love this job and work for myself. But I have a whole life policy for $99k and will convert it to a reduced paid up policy if I decide to dial back my work eventually. That way Mrs. Lee won't have to have a yard sale if I die before she does and funds are otherwise tight.

My PSA had jumped up some. So my urologist had me get a "multiplanar, multisequence MRI"

He said he had more confidence in this MRI test than PSA to indicate whether biopsy was called for.

I had some health related issues 22 years ago that made insurance very expensive when my son was born in 2003. I stuck with employer provided insurance and bought as much as I could without a physical (like 5x base salary or something like that).

Then in 2010 after enough time had passed, I got an increasing "Term to 80" policy at decent rates. It was lower cost than level term and was a better buy at the age of 38.

Then 4 years later I qualified for the lowest risk group and changed to 20 year term. That gets me to 62, and by then my son who just started college should be on his own and hopefully through any graduate programs he might decide to do after his bachelors.

I have until 2024 (10 years since issue) to convert to whole life without underwriting. My agent is always pushing me to get whole, but the reality is the rates are based on YOU fully funding the policy by the time the actuaries think you will die.

I've been divorced for almost 9 years and 50 now. Thought I'd be settled down by now but it didn't happen. My only real need for insurance after the 20 year term runs out is if I do end up in a long term relationship or marriage.

A friend of mine (from OK but lived in TX for a while) once said he didn't have life insurance because "my wife is hot and she'll find another guy in no time". And that's thing people are fooled by. Your spouse probably isn't going to need to replace your income for the rest of their life (or your expected life span if you die earlier), and your kids will grow up and have jobs and not need your income either.

Realistically if I do end up in a LTR or marriage I will do something. But depends on various things.

So, wait, you get a high PSA reading, and they want you to quit coffee, chocolate, and sex? Do you get a freebie prescription to treat the consequent depression too?