Organ transplants
Organ transplants are serious business, which explains why insurance underwriters treat them on a case-by-case basis. Some insurers steer clear of organ transplants altogether, with the exception of some kidney transplants.
"It really depends," says Goldstein. "Obviously, corneal transplants would be very insurable, but the heart transplants and liver transplants haven’t been looked at quite the same as the kidney transplants."
Goldstein says most life insurers will underwrite the recipient of a kidney transplant barring any complications, in part because it's among the most routine organ transplant. "Assuming that they're recovering from their surgery, they're doing very well, they're not having any complications from the transplant, kidney transplants can be underwritten," she says.
Recipients of liver or heart transplants may not fare as well however.
"Liver and heart transplants might be insurable by some carriers, but not by many," Goldstein says. "There just hasn't been as much experience to be able to know exactly what the risk classification should look like. I would be reluctant to say that nobody is doing that, however."