So, you’ve been told you have hypertension, high blood pressure in layman’s terms. Your doctor said that you need to take medication and change a few lifestyle items, primarily eating right and getting more exercise.

If you are like the majority of high blood pressureans, you’ll probably take the medication when you feel like you need it which is not what your doctor ordered. And there is clear evidence that most folks with hypertension kind of pass over that whole thing about changing their diet.

It seems to me that one of the reasons that health care costs are so high here is that so many people spend money to get a doctor to diagnose and recommend treatment. Then they turn around and ignore the treatment, which leads to further deteriored health. In the case of high blood pressure, not being compliant with treatment and recommended lifestyle changes can lead to a stroke or heart attack.

From a life insurance standpoint compliance and control are the bedrock of underwriting. When an underwriter is reviewing records and sees ongoing reminders from the doctor to take the medication daily and not when a patient feels like it, the big red flag goes up. When a person isn’t following recommendations and their blood pressure should be controlled, but isn’t, they should expect to pay a high premium or even be declined for life insurance.

Bottom line. Life insurance underwriters aren’t there to tell you how to live your life. They are there to tell you about the risk you pose by not taking medical advice seriously. They do it with rates. Great life insurance rates and high blood pressure don’t have to be oxymorons.