Ed Hinerman On Life Insurance

When dad has cancer!!

Just finishing up today and getting ready to drive to where my parents live. My father has bladder cancer and is meeting with the oncologist tomorrow to discuss what steps might be best. At his age 84, he of course has long since quit worrying about life insurance and neither the cancer or the treatment will impact him in that manner. Just say a prayer for him if you are so inclined. At his age the treatment can be extremely rough, almost as rough as the disease itself.

As I was wrapping up I got a call from a son looking for life insurance for his 48 year old father who has liver cancer and is still undergoing treatment. I explained that at this juncture there really was no option other than guaranteed issue life insurance, a whole life policy that is “graded”. What that means is that the death benefit doesn’t become fully “vested”, for lack of a better term, for two years, three with some companies. So, if his father were to pass away during that period all that would be paid to the beneficiaries is a return of the premium paid, plus interest.

The son, of course, wanted something with an immediate benefit and said he would just continue looking. Logic would of course lean toward the fact that if an insurance company was going to offer insurance with an immediate death benefit, and that person was in the throes of a potentially fatal cancer, they would have to charge a premium almost equal to the death benefit. Logic did not dissuade the son. He said he would keep looking.

I say all of this for two reasons. Most importantly, get insurance while you are healthy and keep it in force. Even if it’s only a small amount and term insurance. No one knows what is coming, or when……and immortality is just not part of the human makeup. Don’t leave your children scrambling for a way to come up with enough money to bury you.

Second. Don’t overlook guaranteed issue insurance unless you have been told that the person who needs the insurance won’t make it two years. Most independent agents will have access to this type of coverage. There is no magic insurance out there for situations like these.

Time to hit the road.

Add comment March 22nd, 2007

You shouldn’t have a heart attack when you see your life insurance quote!

Coronary artery disease (CAD), heart attacks, angioplasty and bypass surgery are generally enough to make the average life insurance agent run for the hills. As they close the door or hang up the phone they will probably be sputtering something about uninsurable. Time to seek out an experienced and knowledgable independent life insurance agent for those quotes. Get someone who understands that heart attacks don’t always kill people and don’t generally make people uninsurable.

Some life insurance companies really do believe that heart issues are the end of the world and therein lies the logic of the independent agent. A good independent agent will have four or five companies that are good with just about any impairment that pops up, whether heart related, build related (height and weight challenged), diabetes or cancer related. Not all companies are good with everything, but generally speaking there are usually a few “go to” companies for most health problems.

 What the underwriters want to see is a clear picture of the history of the problem. For heart related issues that would mean a copy of a stress test.  For cancer, a pathology report , and for diabetes a blood workup. Then they want to know what was done about it and how it is being currently treated and monitored. Underwriters are definitely up for giving a break to someone who is doing all the right things.

What they don’t want to see is someone who is ignoring sound medical advice, such as continuing to smoke after a cardiac event, only taking medication when you feel like you need it rather than as prescibed, and skipping regularly scheduled followup.

In a nutshell, take your health problem seriously and the insurance companies will bend in your favor.

Add comment March 22nd, 2007