Home » Blog » Eligibility and Underwriting » There is hope for people who have been declined for life insurance – part two

There is hope for people who have been declined for life insurance – part two

In Part One, we discussed a very commons reason for why people get declined for life insurance: you applied with the wrong company.

In Part Two, we will bring to light a different problem:

Unexpectedly bad labs.

Think about this for a second: recently, I had a string of six straight years in which an applicant for life insurance found out he had prostate cancer by going through the life insurance exam. And in three of those cases, his doctor knew he had a high PSA, but did no further testing! So if he had not applied for life insurance, her might never have found out he had cancer – until it was too late.

This is a sad reflection on the medical profession, but it also shows the thoroughness of life insurance underwriting. If an underwriter is going to put $100,000 or $100,000,000 of his company’s reserves on the line, he had better know what obligation he is taking on. If he thinks the risk is not worth it, he must decline to make an offer.

That’s what happaned to these six applicants. The bad news was that they were not yet eligible for coverage. The good news is that a potentially fatal illness was uncovered about which they were unaware. I have also had this happen with people who did not know they were diabetic.

With the proper treatment, these folks could get their illness under control, and possibly even qualify for a policy. All is not lost, if they take quick action.