Ed Hinerman On Life Insurance

Prospects Are Bright. Time To Get Bipolarizing Sunglasses!

Here in the Rockies we have avalanches and then we have these small chunks of snow that break loose and roll down slopes forming pinwheel looking things. Some of them look kind of like a cinnamon roll.

Well, that was a weird way to start to say that our efforts and results for getting affordable life insurance for those with bipolar disorder are beginning to snowball. A few successes has turned into referrals and a lot of traffic to our blog and website and the more cases we work on the more interest we are getting from companies and the more interest we get from them the more affordable the rates become. Hey. It’s a good thing going on.

The bulk of our clients seem to have two things in common. First is a bad experience, usually a decline, in attempting to get life insurance and being crammed into a pigeon hole marked bipolar. Second is unfortunately finding an agent who either isn’t familiar with bipolar disorder and so doesn’t ask, or an agent who knows a little about bipolar and is afraid to ask the tough questions. I know most people would prefer to be asked good questions up front and told what their real chances are than not be asked questions and given false hope or fed to the wrong company. Experience is what we bring to the table.

So, what’s it take? What is that an underwriter wants to see to consider someone with bipolar disorder at standard or better rates? How do you stay out of the pigeon hole? The following is a list developed over the last two years that has a lot of approvals attached to it for people who had been declined, sometimes several times previously.

1. Someone who has not been hospitalized for bipolar disorder other than for diagnosis?
2. Someone who has not attempted suicide or had bouts with suicidal ideations?
3. Someone who is compliant with their treatment, both medications and regular followups? There seems to be more favorable rates given to those who are on anti seizure medication vs anti psychotic medication and single medications vs multiple.
4. Someone who is leading a stable family life or social life?
5. Someone who is exhibiting a stable work life?
6. Someone who is not on disability for bipolar and does not have issues with drinking or drugs? If there’s a problem here, then the answers to 3, 4 and 5 are no.

Bottom line. There are an amazingly large number of those with bipolar disorder who fit this criteria, so, while we can’t help everyone, we can help many of those who have heard horror stories and are afraid to apply or have been the leading character in one of the horror stories.

Add comment April 21st, 2009

Why Does Disability Affect Life Insurance If You Have Bipolar Disorder?

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.

Add comment March 14th, 2009