Archive for April, 2008
I worked recently with a client who was diagnosed with bipolar disorder almost 8 years ago. After reading one of my posts on the success we’ve had in obtaining life insurance at good rates for people in her situation, she reluctantly decided to try again.
She was really a great candidate for getting the best rates. No hospitalization. No suicide attempts. A stable family life and career and she had worked hard with her doctor to find the right medication and was compliant with her treatment. Given medication, the truth is that she was someone you would never guess was facing the challenges of bipolar.
I knew that she had been declined several times in the past, but as I tell all of my clients who have been declined, that history does nothing more than tell us what companies not to go to. It wasn’t until after we got an approval and her new life insurance policy was in force that she shared with me a story that is all too common in the internet marketing world. To so many companies and websites her condition, bipolar disorder, was nothing more than a key word to draw traffic.
She related how she had searched and searched for agencies and companies that could be found by combining the words bipolar and life insurance. A few would actually talk to her and offer to run an application, but with no particular noticeable optimism about being able to get the job done. Others, and remember that these are companies and agencies who used bipolar life insurance as keywords, would simply tell her that she was uninsurable. How low is that?
I know that the internet is rather loose about rules, but it seems to me that if you are willing to draw traffic in that specific a manner, you should have some sense of how to serve those people that might respond. I found a perfect example of what she was talking about at a blog that was talking about the problems of getting life insurance when you have bipolar. It is riddled with ads, three of which address life insurance.
One is a link to AIG, American General. While they have come through as a company for me in the past, the problem with the link is that they will connect you with an agent who most likely doesn’t know anything about bipolar. In the absence of an agent that knows what they are doing, the chances of getting an approval are slim.
There is another link to Garden State Life that offers up to $150,000 with no exam. This is a dead end, because while they may not draw blood, they most assuredly will ask questions and when they discover that you and bipolar are living together, they will decline you. Garden State should be fined and tarred and feathered for advertising under the keyword bipolar.
The third link is actually embedded in the blog which makes me somewhat suspect that the blogger is actually an insurance agent or company rather than someone actually fighting the battle. It simply takes you to a page on MSN that has a list of companies under the generic search for life insurance. That search is riddled with dead end if you have bipolar.
Bottom line. The right independent agent. The right companies. The right results. Your search should be specific and you should look for a link to someone who actually sounds like they understand you as more than just a keyword.
April 30th, 2008
Just as we’ve discussed so often, with any number of health issues from heart disease to cancer to diabetes, the earlier it is detected the better the chances of controlling or stopping it before it causes irreparable harm.
With diabetes there have always been the old standby warning signs like family history and obesity, but now a study has shown promise of a blood test that will possibly reveal markers for early detection of type 2 diabetes.
Since type 2 diabetes can lead to a whole host of other health issues (as if it weren’t enough on its’ own), catching it before it’s even had time to fully manifest itself could possibly give a person a chance to make changes that could head it off before it even becomes an issue. Finding these markers may even lead to breakthroughs in actual prevention.
From a life insurance view, type 2 diabetes, if well controlled and in the absence of other risk factors can still garner standard or better rates. The criteria in general for getting the best rates with type 2 diabetes are:
1. Age of onset after 50
2. hbA1c under 6.5
3. History of compliance with treatment
4. No other risk factors or side effects such as obesity, CAD, gluacoma, neuropathy, etc.
Bottom line. Don’t give up looking for life insurance if you have diabetes. Most companies don’t want your business, but a good independent agent will be able to steer you in the right direction.
April 29th, 2008
When a life insurance underwriter assesses your risk and approves, rates up (or declines) a policy, it’s a lot like a loan officer reviewing the facts to determine whether you qualify for a loan. You might feel like you can afford that new mortgage, but it it makes your debt to income ratio 70%, it’s not going to fly.
With life insurance, no matter how you feel or what you believe about your health (physical or mental), what matters to the underwriter is what is on the exam and what is contained in your medical records. Providing a glossed over image of the true story, or providing what you think is true, to an agent or putting it on an application is not going to get the prize you want.
There are those clients who are truly trying to pull the wool over the eyes of a life insurance underwriter, hoping to catch them on a Friday afternoon when their attention has turned to more fun opportunities. While a rare case can slip through without adverse information being detected, it still leaves the newly insured with exactly what they deserve for not telling the truth, a policy that won’t pay if they die. For the first two years that a policy is in force, in the event of death, a company reserves the right (the contestable period) to review all of their underwriting on the case. They can even go back and get additional records that they may not have acquired the first time around. Just because you put a policy in force doesn’t mean you beat the system.
Then there are those clients who truly don’t know (and probably don’t care) what is in their medical records. Their doctor keeps telling them they are “doing just fine and we’ll have you come back in six months and keep an eye on this and an eye on that, but you’re doing great for someone your age, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah!!!!!!!! Anyone who has not taken the time to read their entire medical record and who expects to eventually apply for health or life insurance is a fool. I can’t tell you how unbelievably often doctors will say a feel good thing to a patient and then write the reality in the records.
Bottom line. The life insurance underwriter gets to see your story and then they get to review reality on the way to an underwriting decision. They know more about your health than most of you do.
April 28th, 2008
The idea of gastric bypass surgery has often come in our forum when talking about the impact that obesity has on health and life insurance rates. The truth is that morbid obesity is so very hard on just about every part of a person’s health, that it just can’t be ignored and my personal opinion is that if it can’t be brought under control through diet and exercise, more drastic measures should be taken. You simply can’t afford to remain morbidly obese for too long.
I ran across a success story that I wanted to share. This, in words and pictures, tells of one person’s struggle with weight and their victory with gastric bypass.
From a life insurance standpoint, the most prudent choice would be to put life insurance in force even accepting the extra premium that goes with the weight. Lower rates are on the horizon, but generally companies will want to see at least one to two years of stable weight after the loss that occurs post bypass.
Bottom line. The human body is a magnificent, resilient thing, but it will eventually break down in the face of abuse. Whether that is smoking, drinking or eating yourself into poor health, the time will come.
April 26th, 2008
It’s generally the drama of the week around here. Someone has applied for insurance only to find out that they are fatter than they thought, their cholesterol of blood pressure is higher than the guidelines because they never check it, or their rate is approved higher for any number of reasons. Almost all of the time the first reaction is to blow off getting the insurance until they fix the situation.
Is this the prudent way to go? After all, they are generally looking at locking in rates for 20 years, sometimes 30. I guess the easy answer is that unless they already have life insurance in force at better rates than what was just approved, then NO!!!!!
I’ll just make up a person to walk through this point. The person is fake. The numbers are real. Let’s say a person 52 years old has applied for $500,000 of 20 year term insurance. He currently doesn’t have anything in force. He believes he is in perfect health and fit as a fiddle, answers no to all the health and family history questions before applying and therefore is quoted the best rate class at $1140 annually. This is good stuff. That’s a lot of insurance for an old guy at a good rate with a long guarantee.
Then the exam comes back and his cholesterol is at 260. Everything else is perfect but his cheeseburgers have all gone to his veins. Now that policy is going to cost him $1360. He decides that rather than pay that higher rate, he is going to work on his cholesterol and reapply when it comes down.
Two problems run with that direction. Number one and forgive me, but this is kind of a passionate thing with me, the guy still doesn’t have any insurance. He’s now running around knowing that he has bucket loads of artery clogging cholesterol and he doesn’t have any insurance. Any of us who have been in the business for very long have received phone calls from the widows of these guys. They say they know he was working on an insurance policy and they want to know if it’s in force.The answer is of course no, and the reason she didn’t know that is that the guy was too ashamed to tell her that she wasn’t worth an extra $200 to protect.
The other problem is age and procrastination. Most guys don’t take care of stuff like this since they got me out of their life and they didn’t tell their wife. So, best case scenario, it takes two years to get his cholesterol back to best rate class and now he’s 54 and has been uninsured for two years, but he’s alive. The policy will now cost him $1355, so he didn’t save any money by putting his family at risk for two years.
Bottom line. This isn’t a contest to see who can get the best rates. It’s all about the fact that stuff happens and family bread winners die unexpectedly. So, my advice. If you don’t like the rate do to your weight or your cholesterol, put the coverage in force and get to work on the problem.
April 25th, 2008
The news really does keep getting better and better when it comes to well controlled, stable bipolar leading to good life insurance rates. I just placed a case with a woman who was actually approved at a better rate than we had applied for.
Part of the reason for her better than successful result was a letter that her doctor forwarded with her medical records. She said it was OK to share that letter to lend some credence to what I’ve been preaching as the criteria for good life insurance rates.
Remember, not all people with bipolar are going to get good results, but meeting the following criteria should get you there.
1. No hospitalization for bipolar in the last 10 years other than for diagnosis purposes.
2. No suicide attempts
3. Compliant and stable on treatment. Preferably a period of stability on current medication.
4. A stable family and work life.
5. You can’t be on disability for bipolar (that would obviously cancel out number 4)
Her doctor wrote: “My client has been under the care of our office since 2001 for treatment of bipolar disorder and psychotherapy. Her medications tried over the past seven years have been Lamictal, Topamax and Lithium carbonate. Currently she is on Lamictal 700 mg per day. During all this time her mental status has shown her to be alert and oriented, memory intact, thinking logical and goal-directed, mood and affect appropriate, no psychotic symptomatology and no suicidal tendencies.
When last seen on January 11 her mental status was completely within normal range and she had no side effect to the medication. She had adequate insight, judgment, orientation, mood, affect and thinking processes.” Sincerely……..
Bottom line. Her actual records would have gotten her standard rates, a home run to someone who had been told no several times. With her doctor’s glowing report she got standard plus rates, a bases loaded home run, or a hole in one or just awesome.
April 24th, 2008
When I talk to clients about today’s permanent products and the trend away from the old guarantees to age 100 and toward guarantees of 120+, I am often chuckled at. Uinversal life policies with no lapse guarantees to 120 or 130 may be more well thought out than a lot of people give them credit for.
I was just reviewing an article discussing the increasing number of centenarians in the country. It seems that in 1990 there were about 20,000 people over 100. In 2000 that had grown to 50,000 and by 2050 it is estimated that it will explode to some 800,000.
The article is set up as kind of a moving educational tool. One part of the graphic speaks to life expectancies in different parts of the country. Perhaps no surprise in this is that Mississippi has the lowest life expectancy in the country. I have touched on statistics about Mississippi before that have shown that it leads the country in obesity and type 2 diabetes percentages of the population.
One that surprised me was the state with the longest longevity being Minnesota. I know for a fact that I would likely freeze to death at a much earlier age living in a state that gets so cold.
The other part of the graphic is an interesting historical view of the leading causes of death and how they’ve changed over the past 100 years.
Bottom line. While people may roll their eyes at the idea of life insurance that is guaranteed to 120 or longer, simply because so far no one has lived that long at least since biblical times, choosing a policy with a guarantee to just 100 is no longer a prudent move.
April 24th, 2008
Personally I kind of like the idea of everyone having availability to health care. The idea that people who don’t see doctors now might start getting regular checkups would dramatically decrease those conditions that are discovered only when it is out of control, or too late.
But what about life insurance? It would cost a lot less than health care and would likely have just as dramatic an impact on people’s lives, specifically families. Think about all of the families that are devastated when the breadwinner dies and there isn’t any life insurance. Think about all of the children that could go to college rather than crawl into minimum wage lives without any help. Think about all of the newly single mothers who would have the means to start over, perhaps with the time and money to re-educate themselves.
Bottom line. Whether it is health insurance or life insurance, the lack of either can ruin a family’s future. Just another political moment!!
April 22nd, 2008
I caught the title of an article on prostate cancer out of the corner of my eye today and immediately drew the wrong conclusion. The article, “Exercise may lead to faster prostate tumor growth” drew an immediate reaction from me since I exercise daily. I started weighing the quality of my life with and without exercise and balancing that against a quicker death should I be diagnosed with prostate cancer.
Read the whole article Ed!! As I read on I learned that this test was in mice and that indeed, those that exercised daily experienced tumor growth almost twice of those that were sedentary. The conclusion was that due to increased blood flow to the tumor (and everything else), the tumor was able to grow quicker.
Still a bit up in arms, I read on. Where they were headed with this presumably bad news was in the direction of potential good news. The fact that exercise seemed to increase blood flow to prostate cancer tumors (and potentially other types of cancer as well), meant that exercise might very well deliver blood with anti cancer drugs more quickly and potently. In fact, exercise might be the key to stopping the growth of a tumor in it’s tracks.
Prostate cancer is the second most common cancer in men, but has a very good survival rate if caught early. That’s why all of us old guys get PSA tests annually. Some of you younger guys ought to consider using that as a good example and doing the same.
The other good news about prostate cancer caught at an early stage and low grade is that life insurance, a year or so out from the end of treatment, is generally available at standard or better rates. This is kind of a luxury call for a cancer survivor as most of them give some thought to the whole mortality issue after the experience, but with many kinds of cancer your chances of acquiring life insurance at affordable rates for the foreseeable future is slim to none.
Bottom line. Keep exercising. Only the mice are dying quicker from it and that is only because they didn’t treat the cancer. In the next round of tests they will be treating the cancer to see if the same exercise speeds up elimination of the tumor.
April 22nd, 2008
It seems that every time I write about whole life insurance and the fact that any positive attributes it may have had at some point in history are gone, someone feels the need to point out what an idiot I am. I take it all with a grain of salt since the stern correction usually comes from someone who sells whole life.
Let’s be real about this issue though. If I couldn’t prove what I assert about whole life, I simply wouldn’t keep pounding away at it. The real truth is that newer, fully guaranteed permanent products don’t rely on huge amounts of your cash to keep the policy glued together. That frees up the extra money to go into real investments.
But, they argue, the cash value builds income tax free. Let me see! Even at the astounding rates that Northwest Mutual claims they will pay on their whole life, 6-7% (most pay around 3%), it still seems to me that long term mutual funds that historically pay over 12% will provide more bang for your buck. But you can’t borrow it they argue! If you’re managing your money correctly and have an emergency fund set up, you shouldn’t be touching your investments until retirement anyway.
Bottom line. Whole life started stinking a very long time ago and, like fish, it doesn’t seem to improve with age. Term insurance or universal life insurance with a no lapse guarantee provide the coverage and the guarantees needed for any portfolio. So, consider the gauntlet thrown. If anyone out there wants to offer a whole life illustration, I will be gladly prove that I can better serve a customer with other products. After all, this is about our customers isn’t it?
April 22nd, 2008
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