Life insurance underwriters go by the “book” for the most part. In the case of life insurance underwriting, the “book” is based on actuarial experience of many years. The underwriter lives and breathes by the “book” and establishes a health class and rates for an applicant based on information attained therein.
There are times we look at underwritten case results and can tell the underwriter went strictly by the book and allowed no flexibility in the rates. If it makes sense to us, we usually won’t question the underwriter.
However, there are other times we look at the results and have to go back to the underwriter because the “book” just didn’t make sense. Case in point, we recently had a policy approved at Standard Plus (third highest class for this carrier), based on the client being underweight, according to the “book.” Our client contested (and we agreed), so we went back to the underwriter. After reviewing the case again, the underwriter came back with the same results.
Our client then got a letter from his physician stating that he was healthy and his weight had been stable for as long as he was a patient (6 years). We sent the letter into a more senior underwriter, who agreed with us (and the doctor) and approved the policy at Preferred Plus (the carrier’s best health class), resulting in a significantly lower premium. Needless to say, our client was quite pleased.
I’m not saying that this is the norm and we will always be able to get better underwriting results by contesting them, but when it makes sense, a good agent should never accept underwriting decisions where the “book” seems misguided.