Posts filed under 'hypertension'
There’s nothing that will raise your blood pressure quite like finding out that you are going to have to pay more for your life insurance because you are treated for high blood pressure. Even when it’s well controlled almost all companies feel they need to bump you down one rate class, almost a 30% increase in premiums.
Most life insurance companies would argue that their best rate class is reserved for those who don’t have any health issues. No medical history to speak of. No medications. Just walking, talking little pictures of perfect health. But wait.
One company that bumps you a rate class for blood pressure treatment will allow their best rate class if you have type 2 diabetes and happen to be over 60. Another will bump you a rate class for the hypertension while allowing their best rate class for bipolar disorder in some cases. It’s important, I think, to note that neither of these companies have any provision, any criteria, where you can qualify for their best rate class with treatment for hypertension.
That’s the bad news when it comes to applying for life insurance with treated blood pressure. The good news is that there are a few companies out there who don’t see eye to eye with the rest of the life insurance world on this issue. Just as most companies see treated, well controlled cholesterol as a good thing, Banner Life and Minnesota Life believe that high blood pressure, treated and well controlled is not an issue that should keep you from their best rate class. They, in a sense, reward the fact that you acknowledge the problem and that you are taking care of it.
Banner Life does want to see a two year period where blood pressure readings have been under 136/86, not an unreasonable request. A track record of control is a good thing. Minnesota Life goes a step further and as long as your blood pressure on the exam is 135/85 or better and you are being treated, in the absence of any other factors that would bump you out of the best rate class, you win.
Bottom line. Not all companies are created equal. Most companies have an area where they take a stand that makes them a “go to” company for a specific set of clients. This is, again, why using an independent agent with access to a large number of companies is a real value added for you as a customer.
July 27th, 2009
Guilty as charged. I am one of those recovering saltaholics that grabs the salt shaker and tops off a meal before I’ve even taken a bite to see if it needs it. I love salt and although I am getting better about at least giving something a taste first, the truth is, well, I’m still recovering and fall off the wagon occasionally.
A high salt/low potassium diet is a pretty reliable ticket to the land of high blood pressure, stroke and some types of asthma. A topic of considerable attention lately has been the unbelievable amounts of sodium found in some of the most popular dishes in some of the most popular restaurants most of go to at least occasionally. Sometimes it seems to me that restaurants offerings are kind of self defeating. They make meals taste good by adding large amounts of salt and it often tastes so good that people are driven to eat every last bite, which unchecked leads to obesity.
Now perspective is a good thing. No reason to freak out if there really isn’t a reason, right? They (whoever they are) say that the maximum sodium intake for an adult should be about one teaspoon daily. I am an admitted saltaholic and if I were presented with a salt free day’s worth of meals, I doubt that I would add an entire teaspoon over the course of a day. That’s a lot of salt!
My downfall comes when I eat dinner out at a restaurant that knows two things for sure. 1. We, as a nation, love salt and want it on most everything we eat and 2. The more salt we eat the more beverages we tend to drink. Chili’s restaurants are one of the most consistent abusers of sodium out there. That one teaspoon is roughly equal to 2300 mg. Just a few of Chili’s sodium busting treats are their boneless buffalo chicken salad which sounds healthy but has 4400 mg of sodium, about twice what you should take in on a daily basis. Then there is their Southern Smokehouse Bacon Big Mouth Burger which tops the sodium scale at 4150 mg.
PF Changs has proven to be the king of salt. Their Hot and Sour Soup Bowl tips the scales at an amazing 6878 mg. 3 times the daily recommended maximum in one bowl of soup. I’m wondering if that soup really, really tastes bad and they hope that enough salt will cover it up.
Given the kind of abuse your body goes through at these restaurants, it’s a wonder that life insurance applications don’t ask where and how often you eat meals out. While hypertension and even a stroke can be underwritten at good rates, if a person is hanging out at the who’s who of salty foods, they have to present a higher mortality risk than those who actually monitor their salt intake at almost any level.
Bottom line. Eating right is simply not part of the American way of life and our habit of ignoring how food is prepared, especially the salt and fat that is used, is a recipe for obesity, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and stroke. It may be time to ask for sodium confessions before we order a meal.
May 18th, 2009
There are plenty of people that apply for life insurance and are sure they are going to get the best rate class available. In their mind they are even ahead of Superman because he has that disorder that has to do with Kryptonite. These people have never been sick, only see a doctor when their spouse makes them get a checkup, and have parents that are well on their way to living to age 115.
You know how sometimes you are just driving down the road and out of nowhere you hit a pothole? Before long even people in California will know what I’m talking about when the budget cuts get to the highway department. It shakes your world, your teeth and occasionally ruins your tire. It’s a bad experience.
A pothole in the life insurance application process would be something showing up on your exam or in your labs that bumps you a rate class, or two, or three….something you had no idea about and never saw coming. These things generally come out of nowhere (referring back to the first paragraph) because you believe that you are immortal and have never truly been checked out by a doctor.
One that bites a lot of applicants is cholesterol. Quick now! What was your last cholesterol reading? Your HDL? LDL? Mine were 164, 45 and 104. It’s a trick question in that the only way you would know the answer is if you had been to a doctor or a health fair and had lab work done. If you did that and had a problem then there’s a good chance you wouldn’t be finding out about your out of normal range lipids on a life insurance exam when it isn’t just a matter to discuss with your spouse or doctor, but a determining factor in what rate class an underwriter will approve you at.
So, how to avoid that cholesterol surprise on your exam? There are health fairs everywhere and the good news is that they are cheap and easy. I know this is a stretch for guys, but suck it up once a year and go donate a little blood and get checked out. Better to find out your cholesterol is creeping up on you that way than having the ER doc explain the relationship between cholesterol and blocked arteries.
If your cholesterol is stepping out of the normal range, diet and exercise might just be the cure. Even if you have to medically control your cholesterol most insurance companies still allow their best rate class. So, annually guys! And annually isn’t once every decade. That would be decadually. Once a year. Your wife will love you for it. Your kids will see a good example when you do it. You’ll get better life insurance rates. You’ll feel better and your friends will be impressed.
The other pothole is blood pressure. I had high blood pressure once, actually just one time due to some medication I was on. When my blood pressure when from my normal 110/65 to 145/95, I felt it and it didn’t feel good. In fact it felt so wrong that I have been convinced since then that high blood pressure is bad for you.
Quick! What was you last blood pressure reading? If you don’t know this one you really need to get out more. There are blood pressure machines in every Walmart and in most pharmacies and grocery stores. And they are free!!! If you find out your blood pressure is running higher than it should (they have little charts right on the machines), again, diet and exercise might do the trick. If not, again, there are more and more companies that want to see you doing the right thing and will approve you at their best rate class even if you are medically treated for hypertension. That’s a much better bet for them than taking their chances with heart attacks or a stroke.
Bottom line. There are plenty of folks out there that can just la la their way into the best rate class, but if you aren’t sure how that exam and labs will turn out it’s time for a preventive checkup. Your Mom would be proud of you.
May 14th, 2009
There was a time when I had a whole different view of obesity and gastric bypass. I think the majority of folks still look at the whole thing through somewhat jaded and certainly uneducated eyes.
I will just be right up front and ask to be forgiven for the way I felt about the issue. I truly had no idea back then just how hard it can be to break the cycle of obesity and I truly had no idea just how at risk of premature death someone could be if they were extremely overweight. I just thought of it as a control problem and a gastric bypass as an easy way out.
After years of study I have a much different view of obesity and just how difficult it is to make meaningful changes in your weight and I also had a much greater appreciation for just how much danger a person was in the longer the weight stayed on. The risk of high blood pressure and stroke, diabetes and heart disease are not things that can be taken lightly and certainly aren’t health issues that, if a person has a way of stopping them, should be put off or ignored.
The studied truth is that for those whose health is at risk due to obesity, gastric bypass is starting to not just be seen as measure of last resort, but as a prudent medical decision. Studies have shown that most people being treated for hypertension or type 2 diabetes can be off of medication completely within just a few weeks of having the surgery. In the truest sense the bypass surgery isn’t just a treatment, but a cure.
From a life insurance standpoint, gastric bypass is viewed cautiously until the weight loss has stabilized. This usually takes about a year. It’s during this year that complications can still crop up. Then, most of the companies that are good with obesity issues will want to see a year of stability before they will approve at standard or better rates.
Bottom line. Gastric bypass surgery is not just an obesity easy button. It’s a measured decision that can help save a person’s life.
May 11th, 2009
I knew a guy who made cabinets for a living. He bid jobs through local contractors and directly to homeowners and I could never figure out how he arrived at the prices he presented. There didn’t seem to be a lot of equity between one quote and the next.
Now I know there are differences in materials and I suppose mileage to and from the job site might play into it, but well, it just didn’t add up, so I asked. He explained to me that the calculation was very simple. He could figure the materials right down to the nearest dollar with very little waste. He then added that figure to how much he felt he needed to live on during the period that it would take him to complete the job. If the job was calculated when he had a vacation coming up it tended to be higher than at other times. Very scientific!
Not sure what made me think about that. In life insurance the cost of the job is determined by the health of the applicant and a mortality table, a table that gives the average life expectancy of a person at any given age. Of course in the final price are things like reserve requirements, factors for whether it is paid annually or monthly and, who knows, maybe how much the president of the company feels he will need from each policy sold to live through the next month.
The health of the applicant is a big swing factor since obviously there are those health issues that have an impact on mortality. While we all know people who have lived to better than average mortality experiences while smoking, statistics would show that life expectancy for smokers is shorter than non smokers.
By manipulating the different factors such as family history, driving and drinking habits and whether you have or are treated for high blood pressure, you can see for instance how a 35 year old male who smokes, drinks more than 3 drinks once a week, has 3 or more traffic violations in the past 3 years, has a family history of heart disease and is treated for hypertension, has a life expectancy of 62.3 years.
Compare that with a 35 year old male non smoker, who doesn’t drink and drives very prudently, has a good family history and no problems with blood pressure with a life expectancy of 79.5 years. Even if all of the other factors are in his favor, just smoking reduces mortality by 7 years.
And that is just the surface of a very complex practice known as underwriting. When you consider that obesity is the leading risk factor for diabetes which is a leading risk factor for heart disease, and that each of those health issues has possible collateral health issues, well, sometimes I find it amazing that we can get good, affordable rates for someone who is overweight.
Bottom line. When you apply for life insurance the underwriter has to go figure. While they use mortality tables, they also follow guidelines that have a lot to do with company philosophy. Unless you are perfectly healthy and don’t have any risk factors, the underwriter will have to mix it all together and determine what part of the risk pool you should be paying for.
March 23rd, 2009
It’s been a fascinating couple of years. I will sum it up by saying that we have helped a lot of people get life insurance who never thought they could. And what better way to celebrate the information we’ve shared and the victories we’ve had than with a shared meal, a key word salad.
Diabetes has been at the forefront of our life insurance efforts from the very start. We’ve made huge headway in finding aggressive underwriting for type 1 diabetes and type 2 diabetes. I think our strong point has been in education. There are a lot more people out there today that know what their A1c is than when we started.
I’ve been very clear about where some of the problems lie in our industry. The AARP/New York Life collaboration, on what can only be described as a sick crime against older folks, continue to offer the worst term insurance and whole life insurance in the business. They are simply not the advocate they claim to be.
I’ve stepped on some toes along the way. Selectquote and Zander Life insurance have taken exception to some of my observations. Being a Dave Ramsey fan and I think, ultimately, a reasonable person, I did apologize to Zander. In spite of Selectquote’s berating commentary, I still stand by my assertion that they are biased in what companies they offer (otherwise they wouldn’t be so easy to beat) and I still believe that Suze Orman should go back to waitressing. As to their assertion that I only use Selectquote and Suze Orman for search engine optimization, well, I don’t, even though they think I do. If I didn’t think there was better service elsewhere and more honest advertising, I would never have mentioned Selectquote.
We’ve touched on scuba diving and Prudential being a leader in great rates for recreational divers. Pru also stomps the competition on prostate cancer, sleep apnea and mild anxiety issues. While providing direction on those issues we have also been able to provide direction for those involved in skydiving and foreign travel to places where kidnap and ransom insurance is more than just a casual thought.
We’ve stayed abreast of the economic meltdown and recession that have whacked us all and tried to help people understand how best to handle their life insurance needs in these tight times.
We’ve held lengthy discussions about obesity and the impact it can have on other health issues such as hypertension or high blood pressure, cholesterol, heart disease, heart attack, stroke and cancer. We’ve discussed the risk and benefits of gastric bypass surgery as a means to avoid the life threatening side effects of being over weight.
Probably our biggest response has been from those suffering from depression and bipolar disorder. We reached a group of people that have truly been black balled in the insurance industry and we’ve been able to find some level headed underwriting and hit some major home runs for those who have the name tag but lead normal lives.
We have bared the facts behind the black eye of all black eyes in the insurance industry, the non guaranteed whole life, universal life and variable universal life policies and explained the alternatives in the permanent insurance market. There is nothing that provides greater value and peace of mind than a rock solid guarantee.
We’ve had frank discussions about business life insurance such as key man insurance and buy/sell life insurance. We did a whole series on women and life insurance. We’ve provided direction and information to private pilots that they aren’t getting anywhere else. We’ve talked about the guts of the policy when it comes to the two year suicide and incontestability clause and the accelerated death benefit and the beneficiary rights and the beneficiary issues for those who aren’t in a legal relationship such as a gay couple or an unmarried couple.
Bottom line. And the list goes on and on. We’ve tried to leave no stone unturned and no question unanswered in our quest to find life insurance for those whose mortality risk might be more challenging than average. As an independent agent it has been gratifying to have so many ways to help those who have been mishandled by the wrong agent or the wrong company. As we continue to reach out my prayer is that all who need help find it, and that more agents consider serving those who are harder to help.
March 18th, 2009
There are probably more than five tips for type 1 and type 2 diabetics who are looking for life insurance and don’t want to pay through the nose for it, but let’s take a quick look at the most important.
1. Educate yourself about your diabetes. Understand and be able to explain to an independent agent when you were diagnosed, exactly what your treatment is, how long you have been on your current treatment, what the trend in your hbA1c levels has been, and if there have been any collateral health issues. For type 1 diabetes collateral health issues might be kidney or eyesight problems. For type 2 diabetes, neuropathy, heart disease or hypertension are often associated problems.
2. Get copies of your lab results and make it your job to understand them. If you are taking care of yourself, then you not only check your glucose frequently, but you also get at least quarterly lab work and a consultation with your doctor. Your labs will have a lot of valuable information on it. Ask your doctor what the results mean. Ask if they are good or bad. If your doctor isn’t very clear and supportive of your self education, find a new doctor. Keep a copy for yourself each time you go so you have your own record. Ask about and remember what your A1C level is each time you go. Also keep a record of your blood pressure readings. Your doctor will take them every time you are there. If you already have hypertension, monitor your blood pressure at home as well.
3. Understand control and what it means for your life (and life insurance). With good control of your diabetes, which for life insurance companies is an A1c of 6.5 or less, you can expect that diabetes won’t affect a long healthy life. If you don’t stay on top of your treatment and don’t avoid the temptation to be slack about your lifestyle, you can end up with coronary artery disease, retinopathy, and a host of other life changing and life ending problems.
4. If you are diabetic and are taking care of yourself, never, NEVER, let a life insurance agent tell you that you are uninsurable. A good independent agent will be able to find what you need at a reasonable rate as long as you have done your part and taken your diabetes seriously.
5. Seek out life insurance agencies that really do understand diabetes and life insurance and don’t just use the key words to entice you.
Bottom line. Getting good life insurance rates when you have health challenges is a team effort. A good independent agent can find the rates as long as you do your part.
March 10th, 2009
Today would be no exception to my rule that men really don’t see a world that has consequences until they are old enough that they see the consequences happening to others their own age, or even to themselves.
I spent part of yesterday evening in the emergency room with my nephew who had finally conceded that three hours worth of rapid heart beat (85-110) and high blood pressure (160/110 as measured at Walmart) was reason enough to see a professional. He is 38 years old and by his own admission, inactive and at 6′3, 250, overweight.
I cut him some slack last night, but today let’s discuss his experience. His self admission of being overweight was actually cutting himself some slack. He knows about body mass index (BMI) as well as I do and he knows that his build puts him solidly in the obesity category. “Overweight” is a way many of us use to gloss over the fact that obesity carries with it a number of potential health issues, only one of which became all to real to him last night.
As we waited for lab results and talked, he admitted that he hadn’t been to a doctor in three years. This is a guy who reads my blog and knows my opinion of guys (yes, including me) and their stupidity about their own health. He confessed that his real concern with the labs that were being worked on was that he would be found to have type 2 diabetes, one of the risks of obesity, a risk he knows about all too well because he is also a life insurance agent who works with diabetics frequently. He admitted that he has had concerns about his blood pressure because of his lifestyle. All that is to say that he was aware that he was probably due for some health problems.
My nephew was no different than my average client laying in the emergency room last night. He knew he has been heading down the wrong road for a while. He knew that, at some point, his lack of attention to his health could hurt him or kill him, yet he did very little to change that direction. He bought a bike that he doesn’t ride. He doesn’t like to walk, so he doesn’t. The only thing last night that set him apart from the average guy is that he went to the ER knowing that he has an adequate amount of life insurance in force.
So, why regular checkups? For my nephew, one good reason would be that he would be hearing from a professional that he was treading on thin ice with obesity, a recipe for disaster. For all of us it could well give us that advantage of an early diagnosis of something that can be serious left undetected. If we flip through life with our immortality shield up, never getting checkups, a heart attack could be how you find out you have heart disease or diabetes. A stroke could be the way we find out about hypertension, the silent killer. Regular checkups are wake up calls that don’t hurt.
Bottom line. Prayers were answered last night and my nephew, with a fresh look at life, should be fine. We should all work harder at being proactive about our health. There are people that would miss us.
December 14th, 2008
If anything, I hope I’ve driven home the point over the years that life insurance underwriters look at any health issue not just from a pure mortality standpoint, but from a compliance and control point of view. If you look at the overall bucket of potential insureds, some of the old school underwriters will still look at it from the angle that all people with hypertension should be treated the same.
But the key for those underwriters who truly analyze each case is compliance, does the client truly follow the doctor’s instructions and control, how well is it working? The truth is that while the dynamics of different health and mental issues may differ, the end result given an underwriter who isn’t trapped in the old school box of “everyone in the same bucket”, can vary dramatically in favor of those who take their issues seriously and strive for control.
A few examples of companies and underwriters who are acting outside the industry box with hypertension are Banner and Minnesota Life. While no other companies will allow their best rate class if a person is treated for blood pressure, these two leaders do just exactly that as long as control is demonstrated. Given good control most companies will only bump these clients to their second best rate class, but that is usually a full 20% higher than the best class. That can mean hundreds of dollars a year depending on age and policy size.
More and more companies are allowing that kind of treatment with cholesterol, but there are still plenty of old school companies and underwriters who believe that people should be penalized for treating their cholesterol, even when that treatment is preventative or if it’s for a borderline issue.
While certainly more complicated in what it takes to call bipolar disorder controlled, there are a few companies with underwriters that understand that the bucket approach is completely inappropriate. There are people with bipolar who are completely functional, stable and far from being a mortality risk.
Bottom line. Whatever your health challenge, if you believe it to be well controlled, if you believe that you are truly in charge of it and not it of you, seek out the independent agent who can capitalize on that for you. In many cases there is simply money that doesn’t need to be spent.
September 26th, 2008
A lot has been made over the years about diet and exercise being key components of a successful battle with hypertension or high blood pressure. But from the fringes we keep hearing snippets about drinking a glass of wine a day, eating dark chocolate and other things that seem oddly out of place.
Diet and dark chocolate! Diet and dark chocolate! Almost seems oxymoronic. I know from my experience that when I’m munching down dark chocolate, the word diet is secretly deleted from my brain during that moment. Maybe that is the power of antioxidants. Maybe they aren’t really good for you, they just erase guilt from your mind so, a little wine, a truffle….life is good.
But such is not the conclusion of studies that show that antioxidants actually do lower high blood pressure. This happens through a process of antioxidants inhibiting something called free radicals (sounds like something out of the 60’s).
This ability to inhibit free radicals can have far reaching effects, staving off high blood pressure which can prevent strokes and helping to prevent some of the big boys like heart disease and cancer.
So, will you get lower life insurance rates if you explain on your application that you eat blueberries or dark chocolate or (yum), dark chocolate covered blueberries from Harry and Davids, daily? Well, not from the mere mention of the fact you won’t, but a healthier you is a better life insurance risk and that should lead to lower rates.
Bottom line. Do what your mom told you. Eat chocolate and drink wine….and eat your vegetables. Science is on her side.
June 24th, 2008
Previous Posts
