Posts filed under 'drug treatment'
A Simon and Garfunkel song with the line, “my lack of education hasn’t hurt me none”. Well that may be just fine for most life insurance agents, but the fact that it hasn’t “hurt them none” isn’t really the point. How many clients are financially damaged every day by life insurance agents who refuse to learn about their own business?
You should see the test it takes to become a life insurance agent. It’s not even meant to weed out those that who were to lazy to study. Even the continuing education courses are for the most part a joke.
So it’s just sales right? What do you need to know other than “what will it take to get you to drive away in this life insurance policy today”? Well, allow me to express my opinion on this based on far more years in the business than the average agent will ever last.
If I were teaching the school, closing the sale would be left out. Knowledge of impairments, knowledge of insurance and estate law, and good customer service would be the curriculum.
How can an agent hope to do the best possible job for someone with heart disease or a history of cancer if you don’t know what the results of a stress test or a pathology report mean? How can an agent advise a client who is treated for depression if they don’t know the difference between situational or chronic depression? How can an agent hope to help someone who has been through drug or alcohol treatment if they don’t know how underwriters from different companies view the issue? How can an agent help a private pilot find the best life insurance pilot if they don’t know the difference between IFR and VFR? The answer to all of these is the agent can’t properly help those clients because they haven’t bothered to educate themselves.
How can an agent give proper advice about the use of life insurance in estate preservation if they don’t understand estate tax law? How can an agent advise a client on the need for a life insurance trust if they don’t understand the tax law that applies? How can an agent even represent the products unless they know the regulatory implications of their advice? Again, they can’t!!
A poorly educated life insurance agent is bad for the client and bad for the business. I honestly believe that states shouldn’t take the licensing of agents so lightly. A person should have to prove knowledge way beyond what is currently required before they are ever allowed to give advice to someone about matters that will impact that person’s family in critical ways.
And you ask why does this bother me so much? Because it allows someone with a gift for selling to give bad advice and damage clients and get paid for it. Just my opinion of course.
June 7th, 2007
Whether it is youthful indiscretion or taking the wrong route in dealing with with real life grown up issues, alcohol and drug abuse are no stranger to anyone. If we haven’t been there ourselves, we certainly know of someone who has. Some never get past it. Either they avoid treatment or go from program to program never quite finding the answer.
Because of all the the health and lifestyle repercussions of substance abuse, life insurance companies take a very serious look at the issues of drug treatment and alcohol treatment.
Even the most agressive companies want to see at least 5 years after treatment before they will offer even standard rates. Most want to see 10 years post treatment before they will offer preferred rates. Coverage can be obtained in less time than that, but it is likely to come in the form of a rated policy. Even then, time is not the only factor. Insurance companies want to see that you are part of a support group such as NA and AA. They know the chance of serious relapse goes way down when you are serious about surrounding yourself with a support system.
They also want to see job and family stability. This is where an independent agent who is knowledgeable in underwriting these types of cases can be very valuable. The agent will know what insurance company is the best fit and how best to structure an application. A life insurance application that involves drug or alcohol abuse and treatment should always be accompanied by cover letters. I usually recommend a letter from the spouse, employer, counselor and clergy. These are people who know the extent of the problem and the extent of the recovery.
Generally if someone is 2 to 5 years out from treatment I would recommend they look at 10 year term insurance. It will be the least expensive way to get the coverage your family needs, and then once you reach the 5 or 10 year threshhold, replace it with a longer term or universal life policy depending on your needs.
The good news is that your life started over when you go to treatment, and while cautiously, life insurance companies are willing to take a serious look at insuring that new life.
May 30th, 2007
I just read a blog by Jen Creer on www. thediabetesblog.com about teen using the internet as a resource to self educate about their type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Teens (and adults) found out more about the disease, and how to monitor and control it. They found community in the blogs. Somewhere they could go and didn’t seem out of place.
It occurred to me that along the same line, a great way to open lines of communication with your children would be to challenge them to find a good blog or article on a weekly basis, or bi-weekly basis on a health issue. It could be something relevant to them, but certainly wouldn’t need to be. After all, can educating yourself about any health issue be bad for you. If in their research they found out how they could make lifestyle changes that might keep them from developing coronary artery disease, diabetes, cancer, or high blood pressure, well, that seems like that might be a good thing.
Let’s take that idea a step further. Maybe the child could do research on a health issue and how to avoid it and a parent could take the same topic and study what impact it might have on life insurance. The other parent might research the economics of the issue, how much it might cost if you didn’t make the right choices to avoid it.
Great topics could be covered such as alcohol and drug abuse and DUI. What a great thing when everyone brings their bit of wisdom from their internet study and the family has a quick discussion of the issue.
I’ve talk before about how we, as a society, are sorely lacking when it comes to communication on fincancial and life insurance issues. We have a tendency to dance all around it until a health issue (or a death) drives the reality home in a horrible way. What a great thing it would be if families just started making research and discussion on these and other very important issues a routine way of spending quality time.
From a life insurance standpoint some might see my comments as self serving. More sales if more people talk about it, right?? Well, if you want to lift up a coin and look at the losing side, go ahead. I believe in life insurance for what it does for families. I have delivered the checks and prayed with widows and know that protecting your family is the right thing to do. I know that if I die prematurely my wife will be OK financially.
Not real sure if that coin analogy is as good as it sounded when I wrote it, but again to the point. If you’re a parent, talk to your children. If you’re married, talk to your spouse. Life insurance is one of those topics worthy of discussion, but don’t stop there. Communication is a good thing.
May 8th, 2007
No there’s a couple of items there that are taken very seriously by life insurance underwriters. During an initial interview with a good independent agent they are going to ask about any history of alcohol abuse, treatment for alcohol or drug abuse and any dui’s you may have had. May seem a bit invasive for your first chat with that person, but let’s be honest, these issues, depending on when they happened and how severe the problem was or is, can have a definite effect on mortality.
Several underwriting issues come into play when alcohol is abused. Very often, for those who don’t fess up to being heavy drinkers, the underwriter gets the first hint from elevated liver functions. Liver is working overtime for some reason and one of the most common is the attempt to metabolize alcohol. Very often when elevated liver functions are found the company will run an alcohol marker test which will indicate if a person has driven their liver to distraction with alcohol or if there is some other reason for the elevation.
So, one of the first issues is that of health. If you are doing damage to your liver, then chances are you are putting yourself at risk for other health issues.
Next, and by no means second to the health issues, is the issue of lifestyle and alcohol abuse. Alcohol and drug abuse can both lead to some very poor lifestyle choices that can impact mortality.
And of course DUI speaks for itself. There is the very real potential to kill yourself or someone else if you are drinking and driving. Killing yourself is an obvious mortality issue and ending up in jail for vehicular homicide presents a second issue an underwriter needs to consider. Life insurance companies aren’t real keen on insuring people who may kill themselves or end up in jail. They take special exception to a person with a recent dui that is also a private pilot.
Now the good news. Time does heal. Kind of like traffic violations and your car insurance, the further you are from the last incident, the better the chances of getting good rates. So, given time most companies will allow that DUI to melt away. Do it more than once and it won’t melt near as fast though.
Alcohol and drug abuse and the ensuing treatment also can be insured after some time. Companies do like to see that you have sought professional help and they also like to see preventive measures such as being a member of AA or NA.
Given enough time, any of these issues can get all the way back to best rates. Check with a good independent agent if any of these issues are in your past.
April 11th, 2007
