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Divers are no different than other people in this world. If you have a family, assets, debts, etc., you probably have need for some level of financial security. Despite the fact that diving is a reasonable risk sport, sometimes fatalities do occur, as did last weekend down in the Florida caves. I thought I would spend a little time discussing this subject. A quality life insurance company will underwrite the insured BEFORE a claim occurs. A few things happen when one applies for life insurance. The agent gathers information about you on an application, the application includes, name address, financial status, occupation, other insurance you own, beneficiary information and AVOCATION and MEDICAL information. For most policies a medical exam with a blood test will be required. If you dive DO NOT LIE on the application -- fully and clearly provide the underwriters with the details of what kind of diving you do NOW, not what you think you may do in the future. If today you only dive no-stop less than 130 fsw then so be it. If you do the deep and nasty say that too. Do not let the eager agent fluff over this stuff. After all the paperwork is filled out (make sure you have a copy of all of it) it is sent to the particular companies underwriting department where an underwriter will examine the information and make a decision on what price rating you will pay for coverage. Keep in mind that any agent who provides you with an initial price (regardless of type of policy) will normally provide you a rate based upon SELECT ratings. The underwriter will assess a rating based upon your health and AVOCATION. The average additional premium rating per thousand dollars of coverage can range from $1-$10 additional above the regular premium price of the policy. For instance I recently purchased a policy, after full disclosure the additional rating above the base premium was $6.50 per thousand. So what -- my family is worth it. Some other worthy info for you. Contestable periods. Most policies from quality insurers carry a contestable period of up to 2 years (depending on state of domicile of the carrier) This means that should you expire within 2 years of the application the company has the right to go back and reexamine the initial application. If you LIED on the app, did not provide pertinent information, or otherwise would not have been issued that policy they can DENY the claim. Leaving your darling wife/husband and cute kids to sell the ranch, lose the SUV, hock your dive gear and get a Job at Denny's to pay the $275 a month for the trailer park mortgage. If you are lucky enough to survive the contestable period you are free and clear. They cannot deny the claim. This is important also for older policies. I have policies from BEFORE I was a certified diver. These policies are GOLD they cannot be contested. If you dive do not let some weasly insurance guy talk you into replacing old policies that have past their contestable period. Also -- Group policies from work are useless when you leave. If the bulk of your life insurance is based on Group policies you are SOL when you leave. If you are a key person at your company consider having the company purchase for you or share in the premiums for individually underwritten personally owned policies that are portable when you leave. Ok so now where do you go for this stuff --- Only seek out coverage from the major players, ones who are licensed to do biz in NYS (they have the toughest insurance regulations) you do not want a "Shifting Sands of Texas Mutual company" Look at policies and coverage from the big boys who consistently get the best AM Best Ratings, are financially sound, and are top performers. Northwestern Mutual Life Massachusetts Mutual New York Life Guardian Phoenix Mutual Prudential Met Life If you look at "stock companies" look at Transamerica Travellers CIGNA US Life On occasion you may need to look at coverage from smaller specialty companies who will re-insure your policy (essentially they issue it but have block sold the risk to one of the big boys in another package -- like mortgages) American Mayflower is one of the high risk carriers in NY. Don't skimp on the policy, don't try to "get over" on the application process, and don't think $100,000 policy is enough. It ain't. Simple formula for determining how much your survivors will need. Take home pay divide by .07 = lump sum to pay out interest and principal over survivors lifetime. Add in an additional amount for all current outstanding bills, credit card, auto, and debt balances. Take home Lump Sum Needed 30,000 428,571 40,000 571,429 50,000 714,286 60,000 857,143 70,000 1,000,000 80,000 1,142,857 90,000 1,285,714 100,000 1,428,571 110,000 1,571,429 120,000 1,714,286 130,000 1,857,143 140,000 2,000,000 150,000 2,142,857 160,000 2,285,714 170,000 2,428,571 180,000 2,571,429 190,000 2,714,286 200,000 2,857,143 210,000 3,000,000 220,000 3,142,857 230,000 3,285,714 240,000 3,428,571 250,000 3,571,429 Different types of policies are available, term, universal, whole life, and combinations. What I suggest is once you have determined the amount you want make a pre-paid application 1-3 mos premium (carriers will not send applications that are not prepaid to reinsurers) for a term policy -- this lets the underwriters take the time they need to properly evaluate your situation. The carrier will then come back with an "offer" this is your premium rating classification. You can then have the agent find the best combination of coverage in the amount you need at the proper rating and let you make decisions on premium amounts. You need to be underwritten FIRST before you can get an accurate price. If you cant afford to buy all you need, get as much as you can. Also -- don't think you can apply to 5 carriers at once and play them against each other. That does not work -- you have to disclose current applications to each carrier you apply to -- they all work on a centralized information system and all use the same reinsurers. Pick one quality carrier first. Let them do their work and come back with what you need. If you are wondering how I have all this info on this. Long before I got stupid and went into the dive business I was a producer at one of the top companies for 10 years. I gave up the life of big bucks to follow dreams. Oh well. A person who dies with a shady life insurance policy or no policy at all is no different than one who just walks out on the family never to return... Diving requires commitment in many areas this is one of the major ones. Regards, Joel Silverstein http://www.nitroxdiver.com At 01:56 PM 10/22/1999 -0700, you wrote: >Has anyone heard of a case of a life insurance company >denying insurance to someone because he or she cave >dives? A friend told me that life insurance companies >consider cave diving to be THE most dangerous >activity, >ahead of rock climbing, parachuting, and hang gliding, >to name a few. I am interested in knowing if the >facts >bear this out. > > >===== > >__________________________________________________ >Do You Yahoo!? >Bid and sell for free at http://auctions.yahoo.com >-- >Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. >Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'. > -- Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'.
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