In previous posts I have touched on studies that have shown that the dramatic weight loss provided by gastric bypass surgery has proven to have much more value than just a matter of convenience in losing weight.
With the primary risk factor for type 2 diabetes being obesity, and two of the primary causes of heart disease being obesity and diabetes, there is a point where getting rid of the weight is a matter of life and death, and gastric bypass isn’t just a matter of convenience any more than stepping off the tracks when a train is coming is a convenient way to keep your clothes from getting messed up.
I spoke with a client within the past week who had achieved a 130 pound weight loss after gastric bypass. He was being treated for diabetes before the operation and weighed over 300 pounds. Within a few weeks of the surgery his glucose levels were lowered to the point where he was taken off medication. Even off medication his glucose levels never went back up. Now, three years later, at 187 pounds, he is cured of diabetes and has a new lease on life.
Life insurance underwriters are cautious when it comes to gastric bypass because there are some dangers and also, if a person doesn’t have the will to make the lifestyle changes, even gastric bypass can be overcome by slowly stretching the new smaller stomach back out. For this reason underwriters want to see a track record of stability in weight before they will call it a home run. Having said that, those underwriters are keenly aware of and ready to reward the new lifestyle and the risk factors that have gone away because of it.
Bottom line. Eliminating risk factors through life style changes is the right thing to do even outside the scope of life insurance. Quality life and a longer life are a blessing to share with your family.
August 16th, 2008
Life insurance exams have stayed pretty much the same for as long as I’ve been in the business, about 150 years now. On the lab side, the blood and urine testing, an occasional new test has come along and a few have gone down in extraordinary flames.
The industry has been deservedly dealt a few black eyes with great new ideas. Quite some time ago the industry decided it would be a great thing to be able to tell if someone had cancer even though there were no symptoms or diagnosis from a doctor. A lab came up with a tumor marker, dubbed TAA. It’s touted value was that it would have a high reading if someone had even an undetected tumor. The insurance companies jumped on it without real proof of its’ accuracy and it turned out to be a fiasco. In the end the test proved to be, to put it kindly, inaccurate and it resulted in completely healthy life insurance applicants being told they might have cancer and having to undergo expensive tests to find out that they didn’t, much to their dismay and the dismay of their doctors.
It is these kinds of underwriting screening tools that need to be proven before their actual use for the sake of the clients and underwriting credibility. Recently a new tumor marker has been proposed but so far the insurance companies have steered clear of the CEA test (carcinoembryonic antigen).
Other tests have come along that appear to have passed the validity test. Probably the biggest breakthrough has been the NT-proBNP. This test has afforded underwriters the ability to pinpoint impaired circulatory function. While most commonly tied to some level of heart failure, the test has proven very accurate in bringing to light the presence of cardiac damage from all pathological causes.
This test, in combination with other cardiac impairment markers can be more accurate than the old standards of checking cholesterol and doing an ekg. While some of the associated marker tests are still being reviewed, proBNP is in use by most companies. The issue of heart disease has been and continues to be taken very seriously in life insurance underwriting.
Bottom line. These tests are a two edged sword for life insurance applicants. While they might very well lead to an increased rate or even decline, they can also alert the applicant to a health issue that might be looming.
August 16th, 2008
