I don’t think you would find a life insurance underwriter that would argue that the mortality risk for police life insurance or firefighter life insurance is higher than the average person on the street.

Something about carrying guns and having to use them, dealing with out of control people and putting themselves at risk in high speed chases makes it obvious that being a police officer is a dangerous occupation.

The same would be true for firefighters that put their lives at risk every time they go into a burning building or rescue people from dangerous situations.

But life insurance companies have agreed pretty much across the board that they won’t rate the people that protect us even though they present a higher risk than most of us can even imagine. They are underwritten simply on health and family history.

Comparably, even though the risk is probably not that much higher, someone like an oil worker on an offshore rig or the helicopter pilot that ferries them to and from work are normally assessed a substantial flat extra charge, that is a dollar amount per thousand dollars worth of life insurance per year. A $5 flat extra on a $1 million policy would be an additional $5000 a year in premium to cover hazordous jobs.

All of that is to say that, not unlike the company I wrote about a few days ago that cuts active duty military slack, even with orders to a combat zone, even more companies consider it something of a patriotic life insurance responsibility to make sure that police and firefighter life insurance is approved and affordable. I wish more companies would jump on board with active duty military, but I guess having one company to direct the business to is better than no one helping our service men and women.

Bottom line. The men and women who serve and protect us, whether police, firefighters or military need to know that they can get life insurance at the same low prices as people who aren’t putting their lives in harms way.