OK! Most of us only feel like the fattest person in the world occasionally. And we whine when diet and exercise aren’t producing the results we really want, but are we trying hard enough?
There is no arguing that obesity is a problem, but this guy takes the cake and ate it too. Manuel Uribe from Mexico was recently noted as the officially largest man in the world, topping the scales at a whopping 1257 pounds 2 years ago. Even though bed ridden for the past five years, he has been steadily losing weight over the past two years under a doctor monitored diet and exercise program.
Without radical procedures like gastric bypass he has managed to shed 570 pounds and has set a goal of getting down to 265, one fifth of his peak weight. That kind of puts things in perspective when you are a mere 100 pounds overweight.
Admittedly this was no regular diet and exercise program. He had doctors from three countries working with him and I suspect funding from somewhere. Obviously he isn’t out making a living and I kind of doubt anyone is going to make a movie about him.
How would a life insurance underwriter look at this? Remember that large weight loss underwriting is a gradual process. There is always an assumption that rapid weight loss is temporary until proven otherwise. In Mr Uribe’s case, he still has about 400 pounds to go before he would be insurable based on normal guidelines. Most underwriters would want to see a couple of years of stability in a normal case. I suspect longer in his case just because of how dramatic the change is.
Bottom line. Just wanted to pass along a diet and exercise success story. The good news is that great rates are available for just the average overweight person.
February 13th, 2008
There are so many options to shop for your life insurance needs, each making the claim that they will save you money. Save 70% on your term insurance! Hundreds of companies to choose from! Give us 10 minutes and you could save hundreds of dollars on term life insurance! Shopping for insurance is quick and easy!
Well, if you happen to be young and healthy and happen to have done an impulsively ignorant thing like buy your current whole life insurance through Northwestern Mutual, these claims are not out of line. You can save big bucks because you are spending far too much now. It can be quick and easy because if you’re young and healthy there isn’t much for an underwriter to think about.
But let’s step away from that market for a moment. Let’s talk about you and me. Let’s talk about people in their 50’s, 60’s and 70’s, whose health ranges from less than perfect to down right problematic. Let’s talk about those of you who have diabetes or heart disease. Let’s talk about the reality of finding affordable life insurance if you suffer from depression or bipolar disorder. Let’s get real about the challenge of finding life insurance when you have survived breast cancer or prostate cancer.
The mammoth agencies that make those claims at the top really don’t want to deal with impaired risk (industry term for health problems) business. They make their money by churning out mass amounts of quick and easy, young and healthy, 10 minute business. They don’t want to get bogged down in asking all the questions it takes for them to fully understand your situation. They don’t want to wait for you to produce stress tests and pathology reports that are critical in obtaining good offers. They don’t want to take the time to petition underwriting opinions from dozens of companies. And they really don’t want to spend the time it will take in underwriting knowing there is always the chance that the business might be declined or rated to the point that they will not make a sale. Quick and easy. 10 minutes.
There are a group of agents out there, independent agents, that honestly are experts at impaired risk business. They understand the work it takes and they understand how much it means when they succeed for their clients. As independent agents we embrace the education required to succeed for you. We build relationships with those companies and underwriters that we know will come through for you. We made a choice to leave quick and easy behind a long time ago because anyone can do that.
How do you know you’ve found the best deal? How do you know you’ve found the right agent? If you come away from a first contact with an agent and feel like they understood your health issue and knew what questions to ask, that’s a good thing. If they asked questions that possibly you didn’t know the answers to, believe it or not, that’s a good thing. If you are diabetic and don’t know what you hbA1c is, you should know. The agent that asks for it understands what it is, how important it is to your health, and that you can’t get accurate quotes without it.
Very often a first contact on impaired risk business will leave you with homework to do. I’ve had people back out of the request because they aren’t willing to call or go to their doctor and find out the information it takes to properly present a request for quotes to underwriters. They lose because a request for quotes with a history of cancer that doesn’t include the stage and grade of the cancer won’t get any responses. A request for quotes on someone with bipolar disorder that doesn’t spell out whether it is bipolar 1 or 2 won’t get any quotes.
Bottom line. You will know when your interests have been properly served and you will know when you have the best value, because it will be obvious that the job was done, done right and done completely. If you take health issues to “quick and easy”, you will get exactly what they have advertised, but the chances of your best interests being served are slim to none.
February 13th, 2008
