Posts filed under 'COPD'
One of the key life insurance underwriting factors for just about any health or mental health issue is compliance with treatment and avoidance of other risk factors and collateral health issues.
Compliance is taking medication prescribed exactly as it’s prescribed. If you’re prescribed medication for blood pressure to be taken twice a day, take it twice a day, not just when you feel like you have high blood pressure. Compliance is about seeing your doctor as often as they need you to and taking tests that they suggest and order in a timely manner.
Compliance is about making lifestyle changes. If obesity is an issue that is driving your health problem into the danger zone, do something about it. If you’ve tried and can’t seem to make any headway, talk to your doctor about gastric bypass surgery. While there are dangers that go with the procedure, there are also dangers that go with remaining morbidly obese. If your doctor tells you to quit smoking because you have heart disease or COPD, get real about your future and quit smoking.
A study recently released showed that heart patients were literally overcoming the medication provided to lower blood pressure and cholesterol by continuing to smoke and not changing eating habits. They seem to believe that the medication will overcome their lifestyle when all evidence shows that just exactly the opposite is true.
I had an inquiry just today that stated, “I have tried to get life insurance but have run into problems I have had a mini stroke 5 years ago and I have diabetes non insulin I smoke and have mild emphysema and I have high blood pressure but it is under control with medicine. I am trying to get insurance for my family can you help?” Well, no would be the answer. Here is a person with 4 health issues, all of which are exacerbated by smoking, and they continue to smoke. I wish I could help everyone that inquires, but this person has put themselves solidly in the decline column and won’t move from there until they start taking health seriously.
The good news is that for those that do take that heart attack seriously and make the necessary life style changes and work with the medicine instead of against it, mortality prospects are good and life insurance is attainable.
Bottom line. In your quest for good life insurance rates there is simply no replacement for following doctors orders and using common sense.
March 13th, 2009
photo credit: Mykl Roventine
Life insurance rates for those that smoke cigarettes, depending on the company and any additional risk factors, can run anywhere from two to four times higher than a comparable non smoker.
What particularly drives underwriters crazy are those brilliant specimens out there who still smoke after having had a heart attack or having been diagnosed with COPD. These folks would be lucky if they got offered higher rates but the truth is that they are more likely looking at a decline with a capital D for Dumb.
I know I attack this subject like it’s a no brainer easy thing just to quit smoking, but recent studies seem to indicate that it is actually getting harder and harder to quit. For those who could just get a grip and do it, they’ve most likely already done that. For those who are truly addicted, it’s a rough road.
So, what happens if you can successfully quit smoking? What can you do to get lower life insurance rates? The first step is 12 months nicotine free. That means no smoking, no nicotine gum and no nicotine patch. Once you have reached that threshold, if you’re in good health you should be able to get as good as preferred non smoker rates just by applying and doing a new exam (Yes, they will test for nicotine).
If your health isn’t all that great, all the more reason to apply for a new policy. Remember that underwriters don’t see the logic of having health problems and smoking. Conversely they like and reward the fact that someone has successfully removed nicotine from their life in an effort to improve their health.
Bottom line. There are plenty of reasons to quit smoking and while it’s not always an easy thing to accomplish, it’s always worth the effort.
October 28th, 2008
I went off a bit on some of the more ridiculous combinations with smoking the other day. Smoking and asthma. Smoking and heart disease, etc. Some guy (blog name Joe Camel (clever)), took some hard swings at the life insurance industry for being so mean to smokers. Fortunately for me smokers run out of breath quick and the hard swings turn to frail flailing.
So let me throw a little different spin on this subject and see if makes the point. 120,000 people a year die from COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), almost all of them smokers. COPD is the number four killer in the US behind heart disease, cancer and strokes.
The American Lung Association shared some interesting facts about the little talked about COPD.
It seems that COPD is another one of those silent killers, not unlike high blood pressure or hypertension. Often the symptoms are shrugged off as natural consequences of smoking or lifestyle. Things like smoker’s cough, or just feeling your age or feeling out of shape. The longer they are shrugged off, the more damage your lungs suffer.
Bottom line. Whether you agree with life insurance companies and their underwriting guidelines around smoking, do the right thing. My wife and I recently vacationed in Mexico and in the duty free shop at the airport they were selling huge boxes of cigarettes. I think each box must have held 10 cartons or something. On the top was the brand name of the cigarette and on the side, in huge letters that covered the whole side of the box, it said SMOKING KILLS! Sounds like someone down there understands the statistics.
May 22nd, 2008
