Ed Hinerman On Life Insurance

Breast Cancer, The Process!

As discussed last week, in an effort to kind of lay out the process that a woman goes through when diagnosed with breast cancer, my Mom has been gracious enough to let me talk about her experience. I believe there is some very real relevance in that, if my Mom was a little younger, her diagnosis would be the type of diagnosis that would likely lead to a good likelihood of reasonable life insurance rates post treatment.

Although her treatment may vary from what someone in their 40’s or 50’s might have recommended, I will try to note where those variances occur and how they might differ in a younger woman. As mentioned last week, she underwent a biopsy of several lymph nodes to see if the cancer had spread beyond the breast.

The initial test is called a sentinel node biopsy. Sentinel nodes are those lymph nodes that are the first in line to filter fluid coming from the beast. This is determined by injecting dye into the breast and then tracing where it goes first. In the case of my mother, 6 sentinel nodes were identified and removed for biopsy. 4 of the 6 were found to contain malignant cells.

Since the lymph system was involved, a further biopsy of numerous lymph nodes was done. All of those came back negative for cancer. At this juncture the next step is a visit with a radiation oncologist who will discuss her radiation treatment. She will also meet with a medical oncologist to discuss options such as chemo or drug therapy. This is one of those points where recommendations may vary due to age. A younger woman might get a recommendation of chemotherapy followed by drug therapy. Mom is 84. Chemotherapy is well known for its’ ability bring a young, strong person to their knees both physically and by undermining their immune system. I suspect that chemotherapy will not be recommended.

When my Dad was dealing with bladder cancer last year he was given a dose of chemotherapy and his immune system couldn’t recover quickly enough to be able to continue regular treatments. They suspended the chemo, not wanting to put him at further risk due to the treatment. Thanks to great doctors and a lot of prayer he is doing great.

When a life insurance underwriter considers a breast cancer survivor, he or she will be looking at how far the cancer spread, the stage and grade of the cancer, and the prognosis one to two years post treatment. If the cancer is confined to the breast, that might just be radiation. If it spreads at all it will likely be chemotherapy and radiation. In general today the initial treatment is followed by an ongoing hormone therapy with a drug such as Tamoxifen.

Bottom line. Getting through the breast cancer process is tough at best. My Mom is fortunate to have a great support system and plenty of people praying for her.

Add comment July 1st, 2008

I Feel Fine! Why Go To The Doctor?

To a guy this makes perfect sense. From my own experience I can tell you that most women, especially those married to guys that feel fine, don’t share that philosophy. Unlike us guys, they think doctors are serious about the importance of annual physicals and things like colonoscopies after age 50.

Well gentlemen, life insurance underwriters are from the same planet as our wives. Most companies, even though they do a full blood and urine analysis as part of the application process, will postpone an approval if you are over age 50 and haven’t seen a doctor in the last two years. There are a handful of companies that will hang in there and allow you to get by on your own medical advice up to age 60, and only one that I know of that will go to 65.

Let’s get real for a minute. We all (every one of us) knows someone who died too young and felt fine right up to the time they had a heart attack, or felt fine right up to the time they were diagnosed with colon cancer. Heart disease and colon cancer are a couple of good examples of the kinds of things that can be discovered early enough to save your life if you follow the standard doctor recommendations. It simply doesn’t take that much time or money to keep track of your health.

I had a potential client recently who refused to have a life insurance exam because “people find out bad things when they have exams”. So I explained guaranteed issue life insurance and that was more than she wanted to pay (yes guys, I said she). She wanted the best rate but didn’t want the insurance company to have a clue what her health was and even worse, she didn’t want to know what her health was. How stupid is that?

I’ve touched before on how underwriters feel about not following doctor’s orders. If a doctor has recommended that you have a test or a procedure and that hasn’t been done, expect your application for insurance to be postponed until you successfully define and do the word compliant. Maybe you’re not real keen on having a blood test or a colonoscopy or a digital rectal exam, but when your doctor orders it and hands you that slip to make arrangements to get it done, or simply asks you to drop your pants and bend over, it’s because he expects you will follow through. Underwriters have that same expectation.

Bottom line. The more you care about your health, the more likely you are to impress life insurance underwriters.

Add comment July 1st, 2008