After a season of disappointment in weight loss reality TV shows, where the tactics took precedence over health, it is refreshing to see someone with a worldwide audience willing to talk about diabetes health issues.
Not that ABC or NBC should gear themselves to meet my expectations, but when the real issue of obesity is not whether a person can lose it, but rather all of the collateral health issues that can happen if they don’t, the mega voices to the world have missed the mark and a golden opportunity.
On the other hand, USA Today has started a 4 days series of articles on several aspects of the diabetes epidemic that is sweeping our country and the world.
USA kicked off their effort with articles on diet and the research into treatment of type 1 diabetes through islet transplantation. “Islets are small organs in the pancreas that contain several types of cells, such as those that produce insulin. A recent study showed that islet transplants can potentially reduce or eliminate the need for insulin injections in diabetes patients and restore the ability of patients to sense low blood sugar levels in 95% of cases.”
Bottom line. While I often go on about diabetes and life insurance, the real need in this issue is for the big voices to get involved and raise public awareness. There is so much going on today in the study of diabetes and treatment, prevention and potential cures, that someone with a much larger megaphone than mine needs to shake things up.
November 16th, 2007
Just when you think you’ve seen it all! MSNBC takes the big bucks from Selectquote to misrepresent term insurance on national TV. Suze Orman is given the green light to puke out life insurance stupidity at Oprah’s expense. And now. CNN has obviously accepted enough money from Insure.com to allow them to completely mislead the life insurance consuming public on the how to’s of buying life insurance. I guess you just have to be huge to have the guts to blatantly mislead on a national basis.
In a CNN article/paid advertisement today, Insure.com purports to be bringing the American public up to speed on the only prices in the country that are coming down, term insurance rates.
They start out by telling CNN that there are dozens, if not hundreds of companies competing for your business. They go on to tell you about only 3. Their first shot is to quote a 40 year old male in good health for $500,000 of 20 year term. They say you should look at Reliastar and Savings Bank Life at $345 per year, or West Coast Life at $355 per year. They left out Banner life at $345 per year even though Banner’s underwriting is more liberal than the other companies quoted. Care to hear why they left the highly rated Banner Life out? Me too!
They move on to hit 8 underwriting issues where they claim to give you good guidance. Here are there 8 points.
– Height/Weight Ratio. Hold the mayo! Allowable maximum weight for a
6′ male wanting to pay the lowest possible life insurance rates are a
reasonable 206 pounds with ReliaStar Life, 203 pounds with Savings Bank
Life of Massachusetts, and 198 lbs. with West Coast Life. If you take
that weight up, say, to 215 pounds, expect to pay about 30 percent
more. – WHAT ABOUT BANNER LIFE AT 207 AND PRUDENTIAL AT 213?BANNER IS THE SAME PRICE AND PRUDENTIAL IS ONLY A FEW DOLLARS MORE, NOT 30%.
– Family History. If a parent or sibling has passed away as a result of
heart disease before age 60, you can expect to pay as much as 78
percent more. Multiple family deaths by cardiovascular disease before
age 60 could bump your rate up by 100 percent. – WHAT ABOUT LIBERTY LIFE
AND JOHN HANCOCK WHO OFFER PREFERRED WITH ONE FAMILY DEATH? WHAT ABOUT WEST COAST LIFE THAT WILL COMPLETELY FORGIVE IT IF YOU ARE OVER 60?
– Tobacco Use History. Here we found that the guidelines contained some
good news for occasional cigar smokers. While most best buy companies
have the stipulation that an applicant cannot have used tobacco in any
form within the past 5 years, ReliaStar Life might offer their lowest
rates to an occasional cigar smoker who can attest to smoking no more
than 1 cigar per week and, through a third party urinalysis test, prove
themselves negative for cotinine, a nicotine marker. – MOST COMPANIES DO WHAT
THEY ARE BRAGGING ON RELIASTAR FOR. WHAT ABOUT PRUDENTIAL WHO
WILL OFFER NON SMOKER RATES TO CIGAR AND PIPE SMOKERS AND PEOPLE WHO CHEW?
– Cholesterol. Allowable maximums for cholesterol ranged from 200 to 240
with a ratio of good-to-bad cholesterol of 4.0 to 5.0. All three
companies may award their lowest rates even if you are taking
cholesterol medication. – AND WHAT ABOUT GENWORTH THAT IS MORE LIBERAL
ON CHOLESTEROL THAN ANY OF THOSE COMPANIES WITH COMPARABLE RATES?
– Blood Pressure. All plans within the best buy range require that you
not have a history of high blood pressure or be on any medication for
high blood pressure. Allowable readings for the 40-year-old were
130/80 with Savings Bank Life, and 140/85 with both West Coast Life and
ReliaStar Life. – LIARS!! BANNER LIFE WILL ALLOW THEIR BEST RATE WITH BLOODPRESSURE TREATMENT OF TWO OR MORE YEARS WITH GOOD CONTROL.
– Driving Record. Life underwriters do not like to insure unsafe drivers
and, therefore, want to know all about your recent driving record. For
example, none of the top 3 best buy companies would allow a DUI within
the past 5 years. Guidelines involving moving violations varied:
Savings Bank Life and West Coast Life permit no more than one in three
years, while ReliaStar Life allows no more than two in the last three
years. – UNDER FAIRLY REASONABLE CIRCUMSTANCES PRUDENTIAL WILL FORGIVE A ONE TIME DUI AFTER ONE YEAR!!
– Intended Foreign Travel. No life insurance company is interested in
granting their lowest rates to Rambo or any other person who has
intentions to travel to dangerous places. Life insurers like to use
the current U.S. State Department Travel Warnings List, a list that now
contains the names of 28 countries and regions, including Israel, Saudi
Arabia, Indonesia and Kenya. While India does not appear on the
current State Department list, be prepared to provide an explanation of
where you intend to visit and for how long if you are planning travel
to India. – IF YOU THINK YOU HAVE A FOREIGN TRAVEL PROBLEM, DO NOT CALL INSURE.COM. I’M NOT EVEN GOING TO GIVE THEM THE ANSWER ON THIS ONE.
– Intention to participate in dangerous sports or hobbies. Each of the
lowest-priced companies will rate you up or decline you altogether if
you engage in risky activities such as motorcycle racing, skydiving,
bungee jumping or mountain climbing. – SIMPLY NOT TRUE! IF INSURE.COM
ISN’T WILLING TO DO THEIR HOMEWORK, ARE YOU WILLING TO GIVE THEM YOUR BUSINESS?
Bottom line. Get an independent agent who isn’t in anyone’s back pocket. There has to be a reason they are willing to mislead people on a nationwide basis with these three companies. Please understand that I write for the same three companies as well, but only when they really are the best game in town.
November 16th, 2007
