When you decide to purchase life insurance you go through a process called “underwriting”. How do you define underwriting? The origins of this are interesting. Years ago, when an insurance syndicate such as Lloyds decided whether to insure a ship, the person authorizing the assumption of that financial risk would write his name under the description of the risk.
It’s that simple. He’d write under – “underwrite” – the contract with his signature. The underwriting of a life insurance policy is the process of the life insurance company underwriter deciding whether to insure you and at what rate based on your medical history and the activities that you may engage in such as certain sports or flying an airplane.
Life insurance has “rating classes” such as preferred rates, standard rates and also “rated policies” which means that you are charged extra because of health or what may be considered dangerous activities. In the last few years very healthy individuals may qualify for newer discounted rate levels such as “preferred plus” or “super preferred”.
These are strict levels where you have to qualify by excellent medical test results, certain height and weight ratios, no history of medical difficulties and with a family history of longevity. Cigarette smokers get charged for a smoker life insurance policy which is more expensive. You also may get a higher rate if you use any tobacco.
Some life insurance companies don’t penalize quite as much for smoking as others and some charge less if you smoke cigars or chew tobacco. Some even don’t charge if you use an occasional cigar. This requires special research for your case and may not show on the quoting engines. Contact us so we can look at your specific situation.
The way to find out where you stand on life insurance underwriting is to go to the LifeInsure.com site, run a quote for yourself and then contact us. When you fill out the term life insurance quote form, the return of premium life insurance quote form or the universal life insurance quote form online there’s a link where you can see some of the requirements for different rate classes. It’s listed as “What is my health?”
We have had great success on negotiating great rates for for those individuals that have a medical situation or engage in what insurance companies may consider ‘”hazardous activities”. If you have a specific question about how you would be “underwritten” for life insurance for your specific situation, contact us or call 866-691-0100 and we’ll be glad to research it for you.
