Archive for August 28th, 2007
Every time someone applies for life insurance they ask the question, “so, how long will it take?” After 500 years in the business I have only been right 3 or 4 times………….but in general!!
Let’s review the variables. Applying for insurance sort of insinuates that a person has to make a decision to buy. I have seen that take anywhere from minutes to years. Even though I have been blamed for that period of time also, well, out of my control, not my fault! I refuse to push anyone to buy. I am not a closer. Don’t like being closed so I don’t use “closing techniiques”.
So, let’s assume the decision has been made. Again, applying for life insurance takes two things to get the ball rolling, a signed application and an exam. Most often that is done simultaneously as the examiner takes an application with them to your exam. You donate blood and urine, tell them all about your sordid medical history, get your blood pressure taken and then they have you sign the application (which, by the way, has the authorization that allows the company to look at the lab results). I have actually had clients refuse to sign the application until they know what their lab results are. No application, no labs.
A lot of agencies require money at this point. My professional opinion is that requiring money is nothing more than a way to make you commit (at least mentally) to an end product that you haven’t seen, and at this point really don’t know the cost of. My advice. Keep your money until the agent or agency produces a policy and you review it and like it. If they require money, find an agent that doesn’t. Whether or not they have your money has no bearing on the application process. If they tell you it does, they are lying!
At this point I generally tell clients that, if there aren’t any medical records involved, it will take 2-3 weeks after the exam for the company to approve the application. If you have or have had any health issues and the company wants to see your medical records, you can add 1-12 weeks to the process. This is simply the length of time it takes your doctor to copy and release your records. The average doctor probably gets it done in 2-4 weeks.
I know that seems like a long time, and it is. The truth is that if you were lying in an emergency room in some kind of acute distress, and the ER doc needed to see your medical records, he would probably have them within the hour. Worst case, next day.
It’s for this reason that anyone applying for life insurance should take the time to call their doctor’s office and let the keeper of the records know that it is personally very important to you that they release all the information in a timely manner, say one week. If they sound like you are stretching their imagination with that request, suggest that you can stop by and get the records so you can make a copy. Doctors aren’t real keen on you having a copy of your medical records and often this will prompt them to move a bit quicker. Not a bad idea to follow through on getting a copy though. I had client’s who were caught in a record twilight zone after Katrina. If they would have had a copy it would have saved them months.
Oh, the answer to the question! Having already warned you that I’m almost never right, on average it takes 4 to 6 weeks after the exam and application are completed to get a policy approved.
Bottom line. If you need it next week, you started too late. You can do what’s called a conditional receipt, some call it binding the insurance, but that can be another whole can of worms. I’ll cover that in another post.
August 28th, 2007
When it comes to reasons why life insurance quotes change, right up there with being 10 pounds off on knowing your true weight, is not having a clue what your cholesterol is and finding out on the exam that it’s out of whack.
So what’s the fuss with cholesterol? Growing up in the 60’s and 70’s you never heard anyone talk about high cholesterol. Of course people were falling over left and right due to heart attacks, but back then we all assumed that there must just be some major flaw in hearts in general. People with flawed hearts had attacks and if you didn’t have a flaw, you didn’t.
The whole concept of cholesterol, good cholesterol (hdl), bad cholesterol (ldl) and triglycerides (MCBS, multiple cheeseburger syndrome) caught us all off guard. It was no longer a genetic flaw in our heart, but rather our own behavior, or a genetic predisposition to out of whack lipids that was causing our hearts to, well, just stop.
Life insurance underwriters didn’t miss this one. Remember, the life insurance business is all about risk estimation and with cholesterol it became something of a no brainer. If your cholesterol was high and your good cholesterol was too low to offset it, your chances of having a heart attack were significantly higher.
Obviously the American Heart Association has a few things to say about cholesterol. It seems for them, and I guess it’s obvious, the best thing you can do is keep track of it (yes guys, that means we have to get checkups).
The great thing is that our country is riddled with easy to use health fairs. No doctor, usually no appointment and once a year you can find out where all of your labs stand. Knowing that your cholesterol is creeping up before it gets too high can actually keep you from having to medically treat it. Often a change of diet, or some moderate exercise, or some needed weight loss will bring those numbers right back into line.
How much do you know about cholesterol? Take this quick quiz from the American Heart Association. You might be surprised.
What does elevated cholesterol mean to your life insurance rates? Just a quick sample of rates for a 50 year old guy. Applying for $250,000 of 20 year term we will assume that the only thing out of whack is his total cholesterol. No other risk factors. I will use a middle of the road company in the cholesterol corner, Banner Life.
1. Cholesterol under 220, rate is $515 annually
2. Cholesterol over 220, under 250, rate is $612 annually
3. cholesterol over 250, under 280, rate is $795 annually
4. Cholesterol over 280, under 300, rate is $927 annually
Bottom line. Cholesterol, like any other risk factor such as blood pressure, glucose, or PSA are worthy of an occasional check. Might just keep you around longer. Also, if you have borderline high cholesterol or treated cholesterol, don’t go to your local American Family or Farmer’s agent for life insurance. You need an independent agent to guide you to the best rates.
August 28th, 2007
Episode 4, nearly 300 miles into their “march”, I continue to watch the progress both as an interested spectator and a life insurance professional. My goal in following this program has never been to be actively involved in it’s progress, but rather to use the real life examples of the weight loss to illustrate that overweight and obesity do not have to stand in the way of getting life insurance. Further I wanted all to know that it may not take a huge change in weight to make a huge change in life insurance rates.
Will was voted off last night. Will hit the wall and couldn’t work through it and the other participants decided that he was hurting their chances of reaching their own goals. While I understand the team aspect of the program, in real life, you pick your team and you pick a team that will offer you the best chance of success in regards to your own goals. You surround yourself with people whose goals are common, part and parcel, of your own, not money.
Whether it is weight loss, diabetes or cancer, you need to know that your team will be with you through ups and downs and there is no other agenda.
On to the results. Again, based on the best rates I could find for $250,000 of 20 year term insurance, assuming no health issues and also assuming that the weights achieved are kept off for more than a year. First is their starting weight and current weight. Then their beginning life insurance cost, 3rd episode cost and current cost.
1. Michael started at 319 and is now 258. Start $735, 3rd $420, still $420.
2. Chantal started at 250 and is now 221. Start $535, 3rd $421, still $421.
3. Will started at 472 and is now 413. Start uninsurable, 3rd $560, now $500.***
4. Anthony started at 433 and is now 367. Start $560, 3rd $500, now at $441.
5. Sam started at 382 and is now 323. Start $686, 3rd $553, now at $486.
6. Jami Lynn started at 236 and is now 202. Start $430, 3rd $356, now $165.
7. Loralie started at 241 and is now 206. Start $381, 3rd $225, still at $225.
8. Shea started at 289 and is now 255. Start $475, 3rd $410, nowl at $310.
9. Matt started at 389 and is now 336. Start $613, 3rd $525, now at $478.
***final weight
Jami, while not making her goal to break 200 this week, did become the first person to qualify for preferred rates. I understand her frustration when she didn’t reach her goal. No doubt it will come next week and she will no longer be “the 200# woman”.
I think it is important to note why life insurance underwriters seem to be rather heavy handed when dealing with weight, and why the rewards for weight loss can be so significant. From the Center For Disease Control website, the following list of health risks for overweight people was borrowed:
“Overweight and obese individuals are at increased risk for many diseases and health conditions, including the following:
- Hypertension (high blood pressure)
- Osteoarthritis (a degeneration of cartilage and its underlying bone within a joint)
- Dyslipidemia (for example, high total cholesterol or high levels of triglycerides)
- Type 2 diabetes
- Coronary heart disease
- Stroke
- Gallbladder disease
- Sleep apnea and respiratory problems
- Some cancers (endometrial, breast, and colon)”
These are not health issues to be taken lightly by individuals or life insurance underwriters.
Bottom line. Don’t let your weight get out of control and if it does, seek help. I know there is nothing easy about weight loss, but there isn’t anything easy looking about the list above either.
Don’t go without life insurance just because of your weight. If you can’t afford $250,000, get $100,000. Provide the protection that you can for your family and increase it to the level you really want as your weight comes down.
August 28th, 2007
Thanks to a discount provided by Genworth Life and Annuity, since I have life insurance through them, and thanks to my wife who doesn’t want me to die because she likes my blogs more than anything she can find on Oprah.com, I had a screening today of my carotid artery for any blockage, the aorta for any sign of aortic aneurysms, and I had my blood pressure measured on both arms and both legs to check for any indication of peripheral vascular disease.
Now, any one of those things could be a silent killer. Certainly they are things that can get to the point of bursting, blocking or otherwise causing damage that can kill you, and do it in a very quick fashion, all with no symptoms to warn you to run for cover. The one that actually captured the nickname though is high blood pressure.
Why the silent killer? It seems that, according to the American Heart Association, one in three Americans have high blood pressure and one third of those aren’t aware of it because there are no symptoms and (probably because they are guys) they never get checkups. So why is high blood pressure a big deal?
Have I ever talked about risk factors? In case you missed it the most recent 100 times, the answer is yes. One instance of high blood pressure is generally not going to be much to write home about, but constant high blood pressure can cause a number of collateral health issues. The American Heart Association provides us a high blood pressure health risk calculator . Plug yourself in and find out where you stand when it comes to risk of heart attack, stroke, heart failure and kidney disease. Play with the weight a few times and see how obesity affects things.
Life insurance underwriters aren’t concerned with the small picture and isolated incidents. They are concerned with what happens if you don’t know about your blood pressure problem, or if you do know but aren’t doing all you can to control it.
Bottom line. Give it some thought. If it is a silent killer and you don’t want to die unexpectedly, maybe you ought to learn more. Test your high blood pressure IQ and then plan on getting a checkup. Living life to the fullest sometimes means you have to check the oil (or something like that).
August 28th, 2007
