Ed Hinerman On Life Insurance

Chances of a stroke and where you live??

Apparently there is a significantly better chance of suffering a stroke if you live in the south, with Mississippi leading the way. The percentage of people who have strokes in Mississippi is about twice the national average. I did some relief work there after Katrina and I can tell you that the heat and humidity alone can almost kill a Rocky Mountain guy, but apparently that isn’t the reason for the high incidence of strokes.

The study I read cited the usual risk factors for stroke, only in more abundance in the south. Obesity, diet, diabetes and lack of exercise seemed to be the thread that was more common in the south than the country in general.

Now before someone starts screaming at me, remember that I am just the messenger. The same risk factors play heavily into strokes everywhere. They also seem to be common with heart disease and obesity, diet and lack of exercise contribute to type 2 diabetes.

The life insurance underwriting common thread here is a tendency to not take care of yourself. Remember that avoiding risk factors is the best way to good life insurance rates. If you are obese, the life insurance build charts will raise your rates. If you don’t eat right and don’t exercise, your labs are probably going to show abnormalities like high cholesterol. The same combination can result in high blood pressure. Are you detecting a vicious circle here?

Bottom line, do what your mom told you to do, unless she was wrong! Eat right. Exercise. Don’t smoke. Drink in moderation if you drink.

Just a quick commendation of an insurance company that just did something innovative. Genworth Life and Annuity (formerly First Colony) has been picking up part of the cost of having a stroke screening done by a company that travels all over the country doing screenings. They check the carotid arteries. They check for anheurisms and they also check for peripheral vascular disease. More insurance companies should invest in the health of their customers.

Add comment May 18th, 2007

Frequently asked question!

Since 9/11, in fact starting that day, the question of whether life insurance covers you if you die during an act of terrorism or war has come up often. No doubt that we all feel more vulnerable since that day, but the answer from all the insurance companies I talked to was that there was no intention of adding a clause and that unless you had a very old policy (35-40 years at least), there shouldn’t be any such clause in your current policy.

The last time I saw life insurance policies with any exclusion for acts of war was in the late 70’s and those policies were old at that time. And of course terrorism is a fairly new term and no clauses have been written to exclude it.

Keep in mind that I am talking about life insurance, not accidental death insurance. I really don’t know what exclusions might be buried in that type of policy. The last time I reviewed one it seemed a little restrictive, so if you are inclined to look into AD&D insurance, read the exclusions carefully. I don’t personally recommend it.

What about military? Some life insurance companies will write new policies on active duty military as long as they don’t have current orders. Makes sense that they wouldn’t want to underwrite insurance for someone that knew were headed to Afghanistan or Iraq. I think, personally, that those companies that will underwrite coverage without current orders are to be commended. There are also some military occcupational classes that might not get underwritten. I did run into a case where the person’s job was disarming explosives and there weren’t any companies interested in that risk.

Again, good reason to have an independent agent. Not all companies are hospitable to our armed forces and a good agent will know which companies will treat them right.

Add comment May 18th, 2007