No, not the real man. He was by all reports a real stand up guy, but unfortunately there isn’t a requirement when a company uses your name that they have to portray the same characteristics.  A few years back John Hancock Life Insurance made some bold, but well thought out changes to life insurance underwriting of cancer. They stepped up and made it known that, in this day of early detection and treatment, there many cancers like prostate cancer, melanoma, breast cancer, kidney cancer and even colon cancer that should be recognized by life insurance underwriting as taken care of once treated.

Of course there were guidelines for these life insurance gifts from John Hancock, primarily that the cancer is of an early stage and grade and that, the preferred rates were only available upon completion of treatment. For a melanoma that might mean successful excision of the cancer. For prostate cancer successful treatment meant either a radical prostatectomy and a return of the PSA to undetectable or radioactive seed implant or radiation beam therapy and a return of the PSA to .5 or below. However John Hancock Life Insurance defined successful treatment, they then came right out and said that preferred rates were available in those cases.

I’ve had so many opportunities to see life insurance companies make, not daring, but appropriate changes in life insurance underwriting based on new treatment, successful medications and procedures and stick to them, that I had no reason to believe that a company with a financial reputation like JH wouldn’t do what they said. But so far they haven’t. Two years later I am still waiting for them to actually come through with their new underwriting changes in the form of life insurance approvals at preferred. Even when I present a case and remind them that they were the company that announced preferred rates were available, they act like it never happened.

There is an easy two way remedy for this kind of life insurance mess. Either admit that you didn’t mean it or live up to it. The first avenue is really no more damaging than pretending you never said it. At least it would forever bury the remote life insurance gold nugget and be over. Living up to it doesn’t seem to be Hancock’s style.

Bottom line. Did it sound too good to be true? You know it really didn’t. There are companies that are approving those same life insurance cases at standard plus and standard. All they were saying was that in a limited number of cases they would approve life insurance one rate class better than the competition. But noooooo! If you have any questions about where you really can get the best prices on low stage and grade cancer life insurance, call or email me directly. My name is Ed Hinerman. Let’s talk.