Posts filed under 'alcohol'
I have come to the conclusion that I must not have adequately explained why life insurance underwriters can’t overcome the issue of being disabled due to bipolar disorder. It is simply a show stopper.
Being on disability is to some degree a stumbling block no matter what the reason for the disability. It is seen as a financial justification issue in most cases. From an insurance company standpoint they are looking at the income loss that would occur if a person, especially on social security disability, were to pass away. The truth is that their is a social security survivor benefit that would go to the spouse upon the disabled person’s death, so if there is any income loss, it is minimal.
With bipolar it all hinges on the issue of social stability. From past posts I have really beat to death that stability is a huge factor in life insurance underwriting of bipolar. A stable family life. The ability to hold a job. These are the types of things that separate well controlled bipolar from, well, not so well controlled bipolar.
Being on disability due to bipolar shoots a big hole in the stability and control issue from an underwriting standpoint. If you can’t function well enough to hold a job, it just doesn’t work for life insurance companies. It may not seem fair, but if you’re really honest with yourself, it does make some sense.
Having said that, given the criteria I’ve quoted so often, we have been very successful in helping everyone from CEO’s to single moms get affordable life insurance with well controlled bipolar. Again, the criteria:
1. No hospitalization within the last 10 years for bipolar, other than for diagnosis
2. No suicide attempts or ideations
3. Compliant with all medical and psychological treatment
4. Must have a stable family life
5. Must have a stable work life (and no, being laid off in a recession wouldn’t count against you)
6. You can’t be on disability for bipolar
7. You can’t also have collateral issues with alcohol or drug abuse.
Bottom line. Underwriters have to draw lines in the sand somewhere with each and every impairment they address. They aren’t going to approve someone treated for cholesterol if it is still out of control. They aren’t going to approve with sleep apnea if a sleep study shows that treatment isn’t working. If treatment is working, almost no matter what the issue is, insurance is attainable.
March 14th, 2009
The truth is that I doubt if anyone makes it through life without situational anxiety or depression and there are days when I would swear the whole world is ADD, so what’s the big deal? For years a lot of the more conservative life insurance companies have with held the best due to these minor league impairments.
And the truth is that the more conservative companies may still bump someone a rate class due to minor emotional issues, but most of the companies who are really staying abreast of their underwriting have conceded that real life happens and when someone seeks treatment for it and gets their ship righted, they shouldn’t be punished.
Just within the last few days I’ve seen approvals for ADD treated with Ritilin, situational anxiety treated with Lexapro and situational depression treated with Wellbutrin, all at best rate classes from Prudential, ING Reliastar, Banner and others.
Before everyone runs to the store to buy some, let’s make sure we’re all on the same page. The cases above were truly well controlled. One thing they all had in common was that the issue didn’t affect their lives other than having to take medication and with the depression and anxiety, the issue was resolved and there was no further need for the medication. Situational truly means situational. It the depression or anxiety disorder goes on for a long time, say a few years or more, most insurance companies would call it chronic. Generally the best rate classes fall off the radar with chronic just about anything.
While still insurable, best rate classes are also out of the picture for more chronic and complicated issues such as bipolar disorder. We’ve had great success with bipolar as long as they fit within the following criteria. Safe to say that the same criteria would have to apply to get a good offer on chronic depression.
1. No hospitalization within the last 10 years for bipolar, other than for diagnosis
2. No suicide attempts or ideations
3. Compliant with all medical and psychological treatment
4. Must have a stable family life
5. Must have a stable work life (and no, being laid off in a recession wouldn’t count against you)
6. You can’t be on disability for bipolar
7. You can’t also have collateral issues with alcohol or drug abuse.
Bottom line. If your life hasn’t spun out of control there are generally good rates available for you. Being diagnosed isn’t the issue as much as how you’ve taken control of the situation.
March 11th, 2009
“Life insurance companies are just trying to figure out a way to raise my rates. My doctor says there’s nothing wrong with my …….”.
It’s a real dilemma. Who do you trust? The doctor that’s known you for years and you pay the big bucks to on an ongoing basis to monitor your health, or the life insurance underwriter who gives you a free second opinion with a twist, a picture of your potential mortality experience.
Although it happens, the ball almost always comes to rest in your doctor’s end of the court. There is that relationship after all, and how could an underwriter who’s never even met you know more than your old friend, the family doc? Buried in this conflict is the rub. Somehow for the person applying for life insurance they see doctors and life insurance underwriters having the same job, sort of. They both know about medicine, illness and health, right?
The reason this gets messed up is that your doctor is there to make sure you feel good, take care of illness and do their best to help you live a long, healthy life. But you will ever hear a doctor say that “you’re doing just great and unless something else pops up, you can expect to live another 23.2 years”. They stop at the doing just great part and tell you when they would like to see you again.
A life insurance underwriter really doesn’t care how you feel. They simply use the law of large numbers to estimate your potential impact on a pooled risk of life insurance owners and assign a rate or decline you accordingly.
I had a client today who had been rated up by a company due to a liver function test called a GGTP. Insurance companies all use this test and I doubt if you can find any doctors that use it. When the client told his doctor that he had to pay a higher rate due to his elevated GGT, the doctor dismissed as insurance company nonsense. He told the client that it was an irrelevant test.
And it may be to the doctor. Doctors usually depend on the other liver function tests, the AST and ALT and because the GGT is a non specific test, they don’t use it. While there are a lot of things that can cause an elevated GGT, what it does show without any doubt is that the liver is under some source of irritation. While there are plenty of things that can elevate the GGT without affecting the other liver functions, one of the most common is over indulgence in alcohol.
Your doctor isn’t going to test for something like that. He’ll ask you about your drinking habits and leave it at that. A life insurance underwriter will see a significantly elevated GGT and order an alcohol marker called a CDT. A positive CDT is an automatic decline with every company I know of because it means you drink a bunch of alcohol. The likelihood that you are going to tell your doctor that you are a lush is pretty slim, about as slim as you telling a life insurance agent. But, that’s important information for life insurance underwriting. Drunks simply don’t have the same mortality experience as sober people in general so they shouldn’t get the same underwriting consideration and result.
Having been the person caught in the middle on a large number of occasions, I can tell you that there is no easy answer. I think it is important not to dismiss as irrelevant the information that comes from life insurance underwriting. Even when it goes against what your doctor says, it is worthy of some personal education and study.
Bottom line. Are life insurance companies out to find ways to raise your rates? The answer really is no. Are they out to make sure they aren’t tipping the balance of the risk pool by ignoring information? The answer is absolutely yes.
January 19th, 2009
