Frequently Asked Questions

A rate class is a way for an insurance company to group you with other people who have a similar risk factor to determine a fair price for your insurance. As you can see there are several rate classes. Actually, there are dozens more that are not shown due to the vastly different ways each company puts people in a class. Each company has its own rules regarding which class an individual person will be placed. Therefore companies will charge different prices for the same rate class. The determining factors are age, gender, build, personal habits, health history, and occupation. The art is to find the company that will give the individual the best personal rate. It takes a trained and experienced agent to know which company will give the best rate to a 46 year old scuba diver with borderline high cholesterol. The difference between companies could be thousands of dollars in premiums.

For some conditions like hypertension and high cholesterol, if properly treated, we can get preferred or preferred plus rates. Other conditions can be more challenging. The key reason why you will get your best rate with us is that we will take the time to shop your specific case with company underwriters, real people not charts or computers. We want to find the people who understands your condition and your treatment progress. Underwriters who will compete to give you a fair rather than inflated price or a rejection.

Very often the answer is yes and you may be able to get your life insurance at a standard or better rate class. When assessing coronary artery disease, or CAD, and heart attack history the life underwriter will assess the severity of the disease using various factors.

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The answer is highly dependent on a number of factors such as the stage of the cancer, the size and the time since successful treatment.
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There is a major trend for Life Insurance Companies to consider "family medical history" when deciding what rate class an applicant should be offered. Currently they look at the family history of immediate family members. Immediate family members mean parents and siblings. While this may make sense from a statistical standpoint environmental factors play a major role in many diseases. In many cases a healthy person who has a family member with diabetes, coronary artery disease, stroke or cancer will be charged more than double for life insurance.
Click here for our full article on how Family History affects your Life Insurance rates.