Until very recently we have had to go almost exclusively to Lloyds of London for Key person,  CEO loan collateral and buy/sell funding business life insurance when the client was HIV positive. There’s no need to beat redundant to death by going over all of the changes that have occurred in treatment of HIV and how it has not only changed lives, but mortality rates. But we do need to clear up the picture, not just for executives, but for anyone who has been waiting for the opportunity to buy traditional life insurance with their HIV+ condition.

While it has taken actuaries years to sign on the dotted line and then life insurance companies more years to figure out how to make a windfall profit in spite of what the actuaries said, there are finally policies being approved and issued, a day some thought would never come. Now what we’ll see with the companies that are already involved will be a dance of sorts to position themselves competitively, but be prepared for life insurance companies that will follow who trust and believe in the actuaries and are willing to price their products accordingly.

Keep in mind that within the life span of this forum we have seen life insurance for type 1 diabetes go from an almost instant decline, which it still is with most companies, to sweet spot approvals in the table 2 range and average 40 year old adults being approved at table 4 to 6. We’ve seen the age of onset drop for type 1 diabetes from age 7 to age 3 with some companies. What happened? Those life insurance companies finally admitted that the actuaries were right and that with type 1 diabetes, yes, even with type 1 diabetes, there were normal life spans after diagnosis. Can it be that these guys with one of the weirdest, geekiest jobs in the world actually know what they’re doing?

So, HIV+ news on life insurance. First American General pulled the big fake out two years ago by announcing they were the first to offer their full spread of products up to $1 million. Before we could even get the underwriting guidelines and pricing out of them they raised their hands and said, “Just kidding”. At about the same time Lincoln National said they were jumping in, but only with permanent products at a table 6 rate and they weren’t real sure what the guidelines were because they were going to let reinsurance do the underwriting. As far as we know that offer is still on the table, but hasn’t done well for those who have stuck their toe in Lincoln’s water. Then came Symetra with kind of a Lincoln look a like program but with underwriters that were willing to get involved and do what they could to generate approvals. And we got approvals and with Symetra’s somewhat flexible guarantee length universal life insurance we could control the price some, not as good as term, but OK.

And then there was Prudential. The first life insurance company that publicly announced the rolling out of their underwriting guidelines and pricing for HIV+. The prices were high, but they offered two of their shorter term products and, well shoot, a person could afford it. But then Prudential shot that promotion in the butt when they announced that they had misannounced the roll out and they were only going to let a certain group of agents, that while unnamed would fall into the “not the sharpest knife in the drawer ” category, sell it. And now we have another major company that has rolled out their products, not real clear about some of the guidelines, but what is clear is that they are in the game UP TO $2 MILLION and their pricing for well controlled HIV+ life insurance is anywhere from 30% to 60% lower than Prudential. They offer term out to 20 years and are ready to play ball.

Bottom line. So, let’s play ball. The only downside with the new company is that they want you to go fetch your own medical records. But let’s put that item in context. If you went in to buy a car and the salesman said it was X price, but if you went to your auto insurance agent and got a copy of your insurance policy and to the MVR and got a copy of your driving record and ran your own credit scores, he could knock 30% off the price, would you play ball? Remember, we are talking about WELL CONTROLLED HIV+. If you have questions or need to talk about qualifications or pricing, call or email me directly. My name is Ed Hinerman. Let’s talk.