Insurance New

Archive for the ‘Life Insurance Medical’ Category

There are three main ways a new life insurance policy is priced: Underwritten policies are those where you answer questions on your personal and family medical history and undergo a medical exam arranged by the insurance company; a simplified issue life insurance policy application asks you some medical questions but does not require a medical exam; and a guaranteed issue life insurance policy requires no questions and no medical exam. If you’re healthy, or even if you have a few medical problems, you’re likely to get the best insurance value from an underwritten policy, which is priced specifically for you. Simplified issue and guaranteed issue life insurance policies set a price that assumes risk that you may not have.

Whether you’re buying term life insurance or whole life insurance, you’ll likely be asked to undergo a medical exam. These are typically performed by licensed paramedicals who are often independent contractors hired by the insurance company. They will schedule a visit to your home for the exam and bring all the necessary supplies. The life insurance company foots the bill for the exam.

Health questions

When you submit your completed application for your life insurance policy, your agent or life insurer will call a paramedical service to let them know you require an life insurance medical exam. The service will then contact you to arrange a convenient time and place. You must have the exam or your application won’t be processed.

The life insurer may still request an attending physician’s statement (APS) from your doctor, but you cannot have the life insurance medical exam done by your own physician.

In a basic exam, the paramedical will take your medical history (even though you’ve already supplied it on your application), height and weight, blood pressure, pulse, and blood and urine samples. Beyond that, tests will vary based on your age and policy amount.

For example, MetLife will order an in-home EKG for applicants age 50 and older who are applying for face amounts of at least $1 million. For applicants age 70 and older who are applying for $2 million policies and higher, MetLife forgoes the paramedical exam and requires an exam by an M.D. chosen by MetLife (not your own doctor). The doctor will ask the same medical questions as a paramedical and get your height, weight, blood pressure and pulse, plus do a brief medical exam such as listening to your heart.

Jacki Goldstein, Vice President of Life Underwriting at MetLife, emphasizes that this is not a comprehensive medical exam and does not include sensitive issues, such as a breast exam for women. Goldstein also stresses that the M.D. life insurance exam is not a substitute for good routine medical care.

When age and face amounts get higher, a treadmill test may be required. For example, MetLife requires treadmill tests for applicants who are at least 50 and applying for over $10 million in insurance or applicants 76 and older applying for $5 million or more.

If you’re applying for a low face value policy, you may not even be asked to do a paramedical exam. For example, if you’re age 40 and applying for $50,000 of life insurance, MetLife requires no specific tests or measurements. And for some cases, MetLife asks for a “simple paramed” exam, encompassing the basic measurements and blood and urine work but without the paramedical question list. Guidelines for tests will vary among life insurers.

What are They Looking For?

The life insurance company wants to know if you have any health condition that could shorten your life  which in turn affects the insurer’s risk and your policy premium. When samples of blood and urine are collected, the insurer tests for HIV, cholesterol and related lipids, liver or kidney disorder, diabetes, hepatitis, prostate specific antigen (PSA) and immune disorders. The urine sample might go through routine analysis, plus screening for certain medications, cocaine and other drugs.

Results go to the life insurer’s home office for an underwriter to review. You can usually send a written request if you want a copy of the results, and some insurers will automatically send you a copy of your lab work. If there’s anything of concern about the lab results, you would need to consult your own doctor. Goldstein says, “It’s not uncommon to have abnormalities that don’t mean anything.”

A life insurance underwriter then reviews your application and the results of your medical exam. They decide your life insurance rating, which sets your premium. If there are lingering questions about your health, they may request additional information or medical tests. In the very rare event you are unknowingly quite ill  chronically or terminally  your application would be declined and you would have to look for a high-risk carrier or one that offers guaranteed issue life insurance.

Don’t Let Your Life Insurance Premiums Go Up In Smoke

Smokers pay higher premiums for life insurance because of their higher mortality rate. If any nicotine shows up in your results, you’ll be considered a smoker. The test also detects nicotine from a transdermal patch.

After the Life Insurance Exam Results

If your test results correlate with the classification used for your original life insurance quote, you’ll have no problem getting that rate. If a medical problem is discovered, you might be offered a life insurance policy with a higher premium.

There are two types of risk ratings: “flat” ratings, sometimes called temporary flat extras, and “table” ratings. Underwriters assess health conditions based sophisticated table to determine how to rate certain health conditions.

For instance, an underwriter might apply a flat rating for a short period of time for a person who has just had surgery. On the other hand, a person with high-blood pressure could receive a table rating, which increases premiums by a set amount for the duration of the policy, depending on your medical condition and age. If you disagree with a rating you receive, contact your agent.

Agents can find out if the rating can be revised based on supplemental medical tests to prove you qualify for a better rating.

Even if you end up declining the life insurance policy, your test results become part of your record in MIB Group’s database (formerly the Medical Information Bureau), a clearinghouse of medical information that insurers share which stores information for seven years after you apply for a life, health, disability income, long term care or critical illness insurance policy.

MIB is jointly owned by about 470 insurance companies. So, if you go shopping around for other term or whole life insurance policies, remember that your medical information is accessible to other insurers in the near future. Note that MIB’s database does not contain actual medical records but rather codes that represent medical conditions and tests, hazardous hobbies and even your bad driving record.

If you want to check your MIB file, or dispute information in it, you can obtain one free report annually at www.mib.com.

No Way, You Say?

Life insurance medical exams are really quite routine. But if you want to avoid a medical exam at all costs, you could buy a simplified issue life insurance policy, which requires only that you answer a few medical questions, or a guaranteed issue life insurance policy, which requires neither an exam nor questions.

Keep in mind, though, that if you’re in general good health, or even with a history of some health issues, you’ll likely get a much better rate by buying a life insurance policy that requires a medical exam.

Tips for a Better Life Insurance Medical Exam

Certain health conditions simply cannot be masked, but to obtain the best possible results, here are some recommendations:

-Get a good night’s rest the night before your exam. -Don’t drink for at least eight hours before the exam.

-Avoid coffee, tea or other caffein
ated drinks such as soda for at least one hour prior to the exam.

-Limit salt intake and high-cholesterol food 24 hours before your exam.

-Don’t engage in strenuous physical activities 24 hours before the exam.

Source: Exam & Profile Services, Beaver Dam, Wisconsin

The American Cancer Society estimates doctors will diagnose over 1.4 million new cases of cancer in the U.S. in 2007, with more than 559,650 cancer-related deaths. If you are among the majority of cancer patients and survive for at least five years following your diagnosis, you may face another fight: buying life insurance.

Buying life insurance for cancer patients is challenging, but not necessarily impossible. Your chances for securing a policy depend greatly on the type, stage and grade of the cancer, and even on the treatment plan. There is a relationship between the rate you’ll receive and the curability of your cancer. Certain types of skin cancer, for example, are considered very low risk by life insurance companies and a skin cancer history may not even impact premiums.

Applicants with common and treatable forms of breast and prostate cancer may be able to get a “standard” rating under ideal circumstances. But patients with a history of leukemia or colon cancer may fall into a “substandard” or “high substandard” rating at best, or receive declines. Anyone with cancer that has metastasized likely won’t be able to obtain a policy.

Dr. Charles Levy, senior vice president and chief medical director of AIG American General Domestic Life Insurance Cos., says, “We’re better and better able to differentiate the risks of individual cancers.” Life insurers like AIG American General have sophisticated tables to determine premiums, where they can factor in cancer types and treatments. The end result is better premiums because applicants aren’t lumped together as an “average.”

Most insurers will not offer a policy to someone who is still undergoing treatment for cancer. Depending on your type of cancer, the life insurer may also want to add a surcharge, also called a temporary flat extra. For example, AIG American General sometimes charges temporary flat extras for two to five years, depending on the applicant’s cancer and treatment. The good news is that although these extra premiums can be expensive, they will automatically disappear after a set period of time.

Cancer insurance risk specialists

While a dedicated life insurance agent will search cancer insurance companies to find insurers that will sell you a life insurance policy, in some cases you may be better off seeking out a broker who specializes in finding life insurance for people who have a history of cancer.

These brokers will know the specific questions underwriters will want answered when considering your application. Many brokers have developed relationships with several insurers, so they know which companies offer the best-priced life insurance policies for cancer survivors. Some brokers have experts who specialize in gathering your medical records and organizing them.

By directing your application to life insurers that will view your application most favorably, these brokers will help you find the most accurate price quotes and the lowest premiums for life insurance. Always check the financial strength of the insurer before you buy any policy and be sure that the agent or broker you choose is licensed in your state.

Life insurance strategies for cancer survivors

If you are a healthy cancer survivor, life insurance is even more feasible. There are things you can do to ensure you’re getting the best premium offers possible for your situation.

1. Gather all possible medical records before you apply, from the first pathology report to medical records to treatment records. That ensures medical underwriters have the most complete picture of you, your health, and your cancer history. Having all those records before you apply for cancer insurance will reduce delays in your application process, because your life insurer is going to request them and will wait for them. The information you provide can garner you better premiums in the end: The less life insurer underwriters knows about you, the more likely they are to have to assume you are the highest risk and offer you high premiums accordingly. According to Levy, “If it’s fuzzy, we’re more likely to err on the side of conservatism.”

2. Make sure you have complied with your doctor’s treatment plans. For example, says Levy, if your doctor asked to see you back in one year and you haven’t been back in four years, get to your doctor for your check-up before you apply for life insurance. Your life insurer is not going to offer you a policy without before seeing the results of that check-up. Similarly, if you’ve had breast cancer and you’re due for a mammogram in December and you apply for cancer insurance in October, your life insurer will likely wait for the results of your next mammogram.

3. Get prices from several companies. Policy costs can vary a great deal among companies.

4. See if you can get group life insurance through a professional, fraternal, membership, or political organization to which you belong.

5. Consider a “graded” policy (one with limited benefits) if you cannot get full death benefits. In the first few years of a graded policy, the company pays only the premiums and part of the face value if the insured person dies of a condition, such as cancer, that existed before the policy took effect. If the insured person dies after the specified grading-in period, the company will pay the full face amount of the policy.

If your cancer has been successfully treated, and you are otherwise in good health, you can likely obtain a cancer life insurance policy. If you can show that you are healthy and your treatments have gone well, several insurers may compete for your business.

You are in good health and you see your doctor regularly, so what should you do now that you were turned down for life insurance based on the results of the medical exam?

The first step is not to panic. While it is possible that a life insurance medical exam can reveal serious health problems of which you might not have been aware, in many cases you may be denied insurance or charged higher premiums simply because the medical underwriter found something troubling that he or she could not explain from your medical history.

Medical underwriters specialize in classifying risks, and when they find something abnormal  high levels of liver enzymes or blood sugar results that are off the charts, for example  in many cases they will decline or postpone a decision rather than make a guess as to the nature of the problem and the medical risks involved.

“We are in the risk-assessment business, not the diagnosis business,” says Dr. Stephen Zimmerman, chief medical director for American General Life Cos.

Your Next Steps

First, ask the insurance company for the specific details of your life insurance application denial. All states have laws requiring an insurance company to provide the specific reasons for any declination.

Some states permit the information to be sent directly to the applicant. In other states, any medically related reasons must be sent to a physician of your choice. If the reason you were denied life insurance was lab work done as part of your application, a copy of the lab work will be sent to your doctor. If the reason was information contained in a physician’s report, the specific reason, and possibly a copy of the report from which the information came, can be sent to a doctor to be reviewed with you.

Once you know why you were denied life insurance, go to your doctor. You and your doctor should find out if there is something wrong with your health, and stories abound about life insurance applications that have saved lives by alerting the applicants to serious medical problems. Even if all tests come back negative, you may face some challenges in buying life insurance in the future unless the trouble area is cleared up.

You see, insurance companies have access to the results of your previous insurance exam through the Medical Information Bureau (MIB), a clearinghouse of medical information that insurers share, and while you can request your MIB file and have outright errors removed, the results of your test, although unfavorable and perhaps unexplained, may not be wrong.

When you next apply for life insurance, you will probably need to make an argument to the insurer as to why it should offer you a policy (or a policy at a better price), even if you apply to a different insurer. Fortunately this may not be hard.

Providing the life insurance company with the results of tests that show you do not have medical conditions associated with the results of your insurance medical exam can go a long way toward helping you go from no life insurance to being able to buy an affordable life insurance policy.

“The tests you’ve taken will allow the insurer to exclude some serious diseases,” says Dr. Robert Gleeson, a vice president and medical underwriter at Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co. “Each negative result on a medical test would make me feel better and better about underwriting a case like this.”

It is up to you, however, to make sure that the insurer has that information because even favorable tests can sometimes slip through the cracks. So be sure that your doctors have sent all of the relevant tests to the life insurance company, and that the insurer knows how to contact all of the doctors who treated you.

You should also make your case to your insurance agent. Life insurance agents can help you argue for a better-priced policy and can make sure all of your medical information gets to the right people.