Cigar smoking and Life Insurance premiums.

[BigCat]

Originally Posted by brigey57

Well in that case it won't much matter cause to collect you need to be dead.

Presumably the insurance is purchased to protect your loved ones who aren't dead - the company will deny their claim on the policy and and then they'll have to try to sue the agent.

[brigey57]

You do know that I understand that and my response was said sarcastically or why else would I look to buy Life insurance in the first place? Thank you for clarifying your point...

Originally Posted by brigey57

I did disclose the information to the agent with words like in an effort of full disclosure, I do on occasion smoke cigars. So there is no I didn't disclose the information. Fortunately it is coming off of the Winter.

[BigCat]

Originally Posted by brigey57

You do know that I understand that and my response was said sarcastically or why else would I look to buy Life insurance in the first place? Thank you for clarifying your point...

It wasn't clear to me that you were being sarcastic. It's one of the weaknesses of the written word at times. I was merely trying to shed light on an apparently overlooked point.

[JohnE1000]

If you lie, they will refuse your claims, then what is the insurance good for?

[Blueface]

Originally Posted by JohnE1000

If you lie, they will refuse your claims, then what is the insurance good for?

Well, applications are contracts. You agree to certain terms as does the company. Misrepresenting information not only yields a claim possibly not being paid but also may yield what they call void ab initio. This means your policy is void and never existed.

Now, back to the cigar thing, what if you are not a cigar smoker but later become one and the company doesn't f/u with you as the years pass to see if factors have changed? How on Earth will they be able to prove you intended to defraud on the application by proving you were actually a smoker at that time? Just hope they too are not on CA. (hint.................things that make you go hmmmm).

However, I won't advocate that. I am the guy that approves those voids when people lie on applications. Not a nice thing when that happens.

[Ahbroody]

This is a very valid point. Insurance companies dont follow up. More I have been able to find nothing regarding if you start smoking cigars later in life. They will not deny based on that and it is not on you to tell them you have begun smoking. The policy is based on the terms at time of signing. Given how bad insurance companies have and continue to screw people sorry if I lack compassion for them. That said I will likely disclose casual cigar use. I worked as an insurance adjuster for over 2 years. The primary focus on all claims was tryimg to see if coverage could be denied. Insurance companies love to take money and make profits, but sure dont like giving you any of your money back.

Tomorrow will make 1 week no cigars. Looks like I will make 2 weeks before the physical. That will make for an interesting dilemma.

[jkim05]

Originally Posted by Ahbroody

This is a very valid point. Insurance companies dont follow up. More I have been able to find nothing regarding if you start smoking cigars later in life. They will not deny based on that and it is not on you to tell them you have begun smoking. The policy is based on the terms at time of signing. Given how bad insurance companies have and continue to screw people sorry if I lack compassion for them. That said I will likely disclose casual cigar use. I worked as an insurance adjuster for over 2 years. The primary focus on all claims was tryimg to see if coverage could be denied. Insurance companies love to take money and make profits, but sure dont like giving you any of your money back.

Tomorrow will make 1 week no cigars. Looks like I will make 2 weeks before the physical. That will make for an interesting dilemma.

For all life insurance claims, the insurance company has 2 years from the date of the contract to make any adjustments or amendments to the policy, and that is only for information that was discovered later relevant at the time the policy was underwritten. For instance, if a criminal history was discovered subsequent to the original issue of the policy or some relevant medical information was not disclosed originally, but found out later by the insurance company, they could raise your rates or cancel the policy outright depending on the issue. However, any changes that happen subsequent to underwriting is not subject to disclosure. You could have a had any number of health conditions, but if it was not preexisting or did not come up in underwriting, the life insurance company cannot deny a claim on that basis. Once the policy is issued, you can do whatever you want, but you don't want to lie prior to the policy being issued also.

[Blueface]

Originally Posted by Ahbroody

Given how bad insurance companies have and continue to screw people sorry if I lack compassion for them. That said I will likely disclose casual cigar use. I worked as an insurance adjuster for over 2 years. The primary focus on all claims was tryimg to see if coverage could be denied. Insurance companies love to take money and make profits, but sure dont like giving you any of your money back.

Wow.
I have been in the claims business for 28 years, for the largest publicly traded carrier in the country.
24 of the last 28 years as a manager.
I have dealt with Personal Lines, PIP, Auto Adjusting, Home Owner Adjusting, Bodily Injury adjusting, Catastrophe adjusting and now, for the last 12 years or so, Special Investigation Unit, addressing potential fraud.

All that said, not once have I ever, ever been told to handle claims as you state.
Not once have I been told that as a leader, I had to tell someone to handle claims as you have mentioned.
All we have ever been taught and all I have ever taught my employees is that we are here to service the customer, who pays the premiums that pays our salary. However, that doesn't mean what the customer thinks is a fair adjustment and what we perceive as a fair adjustment will always match. Remember, many states can have you lose your license and perhaps even be prosecuted for violation of ethical standards for doing what you mention. In Florida as an example, violation of the state law of Code of Ethics for insurance adjusters can result in my termination, loss of license so I can never work in the industry again and millions in fines to my company.

Not sure what carrier you worked for, but I assure you mine doesn't function with that mindset. Must be why we are so large after all.

For those of you who live in Ga, I know an agent/financial planner (who's a fellow BOTL)that sells a smokers policy that's rated/treated as non smokers insurance.

I'm probably not explaining this right, but you're not penalized for
being a smoker and you don't lose any benefits. I can send you
his contact info if you like.