Unless the applicant’s health is bad or severe, this doesn’t happen. Under traditional life insurance scenario, you are hard to insure or uninsurable. The burial insurance policy in that case will give you a graded or modified coverage.  If that happens, you still have a good deal. Because upon death within the first two years, your beneficiary gets all the premiums back with  5 – 10 % interest. There is no place in the market where you can get a guarantee of that kind of interest.  To avoid this situation, and be able to qualify for a coverage that gives 100% protection from day one, it is important to apply for some kind of life insurance when your have a reasonable health. Your premium and what kind of coverage you will qualify for depends entirely on your age, health and lifestyle. State availability may also be an issue.