Archive for May 24th, 2008
Whether you fly for the big boys like Net Jets and Executive Jet Management, or some smaller group, there has been a move in the life insurance industry to charge you more than other ATP rated pilots.
I won’t be long winded about this. If you have had that experience, take heart. Not all companies share that desire to pillage your take home pay.
Bottom line. If you are a private pilot or a professional pilot, talk to an independent agent today who knows what companies will give you the best rates, and more importantly, which won’t.
May 24th, 2008
Probably one of the most challenging parts of life insurance is explaining to clients why their, at least to them, seemingly innocuous health issue impacts their life insurance rates. Their belief is that if it isn’t bothering them too much and their doctor hasn’t told them to buy a house close to the emergency room, what’s the big deal?
Sleep apnea is one of those issues. In most cases of obstructive sleep apnea a person would probably claim that they had overcome their only real mortality issue, that being their demise at the hands of their spouse if they didn’t do something about the snoring.
The most common risk factor (cause) of sleep apnea is obesity. While it is not uncommon in other cases, it is a relatively frequent occurrence among those who have lost control of their weight. In most cases the issues that arise from sleep apnea, snoring and sleep deprivation, are those kinds of things that fall into the “so what” category when a person is trying to wrap their mind around their own perceived life insurance risk.
The issue that very often doctors don’t talk about with their patients is the connection between sleep apnea and CAD (coronary artery disease), stroke and congestive heart failure. It is my belief that most doctors aren’t real keen on attempting to help people get a grip on lifestyle issues, so they treat the symptom and don’t discuss the underlying causative issues.
There is a definitive link between these issues, although the still unclear factor is whether sleep apnea leads to an increased risk of heart disease and stroke, or whether it is obesity that is the real culprit. Studies are ongoing to determine that answer. The other issue of congestive heart failure seems to be very clear. While sleep apnea doesn’t cause CHF, it absolutely aggravates it.
From a life insurance standpoint, while none of these cause and affect scenarios are consistent from person to person, underwriting has to consider the issues. Sleep apnea, if well controlled, is ultimately insurable at very good rates as long as it is characterized after testing as mild to moderate. Severe sleep apnea is generally still insurable, but there can be increased rates.
Bottom line. It’s not your snoring that concerns life insurance underwriters. If you have sleep apnea and need life insurance, find an independent agent who understands sleep apnea. They will know what questions to ask and most importantly, what companies will help you and what companies to avoid.
May 24th, 2008
For as long as I’ve been in the business, not quite 100 years but working on it, foreign travel has been fair game for life insurance companies underwriting criteria. In the words of an underwriter I spoke to several years ago, “it seems prudent for us to consider increased mortality risk for people that travel to unstable areas or areas that are known for unsafe health conditions”.
For as long as I can remember underwriters have used as their core base of countries that are automatic declines, those that show up on State Department travel warning list. When you look at this list you can certainly understand why your mother and most life insurance underwriters might have some concern. The problem that has surfaced lately and many state insurance commissions are addressing is, that while it may present a scary sounding list, there is no mortality statistics to back up a higher rating or decline in many instances.
An even sketchier issue arose when companies also took adverse action based on the travel alert list. This list is fairly short right now, but at times has been quite lengthy and has included countries that will just leave you shaking your head. On the list today are notably scary places like Mexico and China. One of the China alerts rightly suggests that you exercise caution in travel to the area of the country impacted by the recent earthquake. But the other alert simply alludes to the fact that foreign place are kind of scary and you might want to be very careful when you go there.
I believe the State Department is well intentioned in these lists, but when places like Mexico and, in the past, such notables as Belize and Costa Rica, are used by insurance companies as ways to rate life insurance applications, something has gone askew. I remember a case a few years ago being declined because of a planned vacation to Belize. When I asked the underwriter what he was thinking, he mentioned that Belize was on the alert list because of the danger of kidnapping and murder of tourists. My wife and I honeymooned there and have been back a few times since then. The fact is that a tourist had been robbed and killed several years before we started going there, making it 10-15 years prior to this underwriter’s action. We reapplied with another company and got the rates we expected to get the first time around.
Anyway, a shift is coming and in several states has already started. On the subject of foreign travel, in many states, a company now either can’t consider the foreign travel in their underwriting, or as part of any adverse decision, has to produce documentation to back up any perceived mortality risk.
I am for this and in some instances, against it. It will hopefully clean up petty issues like travel to Mexico, Belize and China, but in my mind the companies should have the discretion to refuse to accept the risk of someone traveling on vacation to Afghanistan. While vacation is probably not the right example, civilian workers and missionaries do travel to dangerous places in substantial numbers and the risk is real, not fabricated.
Bottom line. An independent life insurance agent can help you wind your way through the maze, and the truth is, in most cases, get foreign travel put in the proper context.
May 24th, 2008
