Life Insurance underwriting works by evaluating a whole lot of different factors and determining how likely you are to die prematurely. It would seem that most people would be very interested in the process and just exactly where they stand.
Life Insurance underwriters are trained to consider a number of different bits of information to arrive at an idea of how much of a risk any individual person is to insure. They are armed with a great deal of information. The massive data gathering capacity of computers have made this process even more detailed. Extremely detailed mortality tables have been prepared to assist the underwriters.
Underwriting is not fortune telling, however. It is not based on accurately predicting the future, because this can not be done. Rather, it works by computing odds and averages and assigning rates to Insurance Policies that will tend to produce the desired results for the customers and the clients. It is not concerned with exceptions and unusual or unlucky circumstances, but with what is normal.
The process begins by gathering information from the prospective client. This information includes their age. This is one of the most important factors. Obviously, a 60 year old man has a shorter life expectancy than a 20 year old. Overall health is another consideration. This includes history of past illness, present condition, and even family medical history. Such obviously harmful habits such as smoking or excessive alcohol use would be factors. Occupation and hobbies are taken into consideration. Stunt pilots and bungee jumpers might represent a higher risk of unexpected death than bank tellers and stamp collectors.
Gender is considered where it is allowed. Some states, in a concession to Women's rights organizations, have mandated that gender can not be considered in underwriting decisions. Individual Insurance Companies have underwriting guidelines that give certain things more weight than others. It is also possible to improve your own individual circumstances and improve your profile to the underwriters. If you quit smoking, or change your employment, these changes would influence the underwriters.
Life Insurance underwriting is part science and part art. It is a rather complex process. The Insurance Industry is highly competitive and works hard to win clients, yet they have an ultimate responsibility to their owners, employees, and the people they insure to operate in a profitable and stable fashion. They are in the business of controlling risk, and underwriting is the tool that allows this to be done as safely as possible.
by
Barry Waxler is a San Diego financial planner with UFCAmerica.com.
Thursday, July 19, 2007
How Does Life Insurance Underwriting Work?
Posted by roadside at 9:22 PM
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment