Does Family History Affect Life Insurance? 
Usually it effects the uber upper classifications when applying for a policy . Your parents health history is factored into the super preferred class . Why ? good question . For a short period of time the aspect of genetic testing in regards to the purchase of life insurance was kicked around . The thought that through a genetic sample an insurance company could questimate the risk of certain illness and price accordingly . While on the surface this seemed OK , the underlying problem was as simple as pricing somebody who has the genetic marker for cancer who has never had cancer . If they never get cancer , which is always a possibility , were they fairly underwritten ? Genetic testing quickly was banned from life insurance testing . The asking about parents health history I believe , is one the few ways an insurance carrier can get as close to genetic testing as the law allows . 