I recently had a case where my prospect didn’t understand the importance of my needing details about his health. You see, when you’re looking for the best rates on life insurance, it’s all about the details. Some carriers will allow treatment for high cholesterol or high blood pressure and still give their best rating. Some don’t. Some have a maximum blood pressure of 135/80 for their best rating, while a few will allow up to 140/85. Some allow the occasional cigar. Some charge you tobacco ratings even if you admit to smoking 1 a month.
In my recent case, a workers compensation insurance agent from New Jersey inquired on my insurance blog about life insurance. We covered my Pre-App Plus questionnaire, where I ask about medications, medical conditions, surgeries & hospitalizations, height/weight, tobacco use, and a few other things. I found the two issues in his case would be his blood pressure, which was recently taken at 149/104, and a total cholesterol of 229, (not incredibly high), but with a very low hdl of 27 (your good cholesterol), giving him a cholesterol/hdl ratio of 8.48… very high.
So with that information I went to work for him, calling underwriters and getting their feedback. As I expected, cholesterol and blood pressure were their primary concerns as well, especially his diastolic pressure of 104. They asked me if I could get a hold of any past lab results to see if these numbers were consistent. After all, we all know blood pressure readings can fluctuate if the cuff is too small, or if you’re nervous when it’s being taken. So I emailed him asking if he had had any other lab work done in the past couple years, to which he responded:
Now, at this point, I know I have a problem. I’ve already spent a couple hours on the phone with underwriters, and I really understand his medical history, but yet I can see he’s price shopping and he may have gone to some other agent and asked “what a $250,000 term policy would cost for a healthy 48 year old non smoker”, and the problem is they may have given him a preferred plus quote. So if I quote him based on what I know, I know I’m going to be higher than the teaser quote he was given, even though he can’t get that rate. So I emailed him a couple prices, to which he responds:
Peter, “I need a quote for workers comp insurance. I have a business of 25 employees, and it’s a low risk job.”
Could you give me a workers comp quote with that information? Of course not. First question you’ll ask is what I do. “I run a deep sea fishing business,” I say. You say, “Oh, well we don’t exactly classify that as low risk for workers comp, sir.”
See what I’m getting at? Did the agent who gave you these other life quotes even ask about your blood pressure or cholesterol? In life insurance, these questions are AS important as “what kind of business do you run” in your line of work.
Trust me. I spent 2 hours on the phone on your behalf yesterday, and based on your blood pressure of 149/104, you can’t get better than the scenarios I gave you. Save yourself some time, and ask the agent what rating class he quoted you at. Ask him to back the quote up, by showing you the insurance company’s underwriting guidelines, and where you fit in, particularly with a total cholesterol/hdl ratio of 8.48 and a diastolic pressure of 104. If he tries to tell you you’re standard or better anywhere, run, don’t walk.”
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This post is very good, I would like to thank you for the efforts you have made in writing this post…….
You’re welcome. Thank you for your thoughtful comment.