As parents, we've now decided we need life insurance to protect the family should the unthinkable happen.
I went through the broker my employer (a small business) uses. I got an initial quote based on a few basic questions. Unfortunately I forgot the quote and don't have it in front of me, but I believe it was around $200/year for me and $250/year for DH. That's the preferred, non-smoker rate.
We went through the whole application process including a blood test and medical history. I now have been given a quote of $400/year based on the history. I don't know what specifically excluded me from preferred status.
Questions:
1) Should I bother asking specifically what excluded me from preferred?
2) If I do find out, is there any appeal process if I feel it's not valid for some reason?
3) If there is a process, is it even worth it?
4) I understand there's a database that insurance companies use. Anyone know what information is stored there?
5) Should I bother trying to go through the whole process again to get a quote from another company?
We're still waiting on DH's quote, but I can guarantee you that he also didn't make preferred. Unfortunately we made several errors with him. One was that when the nurse was taking his history, he didn't hear her say "In the past 10 years have you...?" and instead answered based on his whole life. For example, he mentioned he had an ulcer in 2nd grade (after his parents divorced). But he's never had that problem again, and it's been over 20 years. So he should not have answered that, but it went into the file. Same with asthma, he has not had an episode or been treated for it for the past 10 years. The asthma is going to be a big deal for the insurance company, and it's a real shame for us since it honestly shouldn't have come up. (I made a few boo-boos myself, it wasn't just DH
).
So now I just feel at a loss. I worry we permenently screwed up our chances to get insurance at a preferred rate, with any company.
Any advice?
I went through the broker my employer (a small business) uses. I got an initial quote based on a few basic questions. Unfortunately I forgot the quote and don't have it in front of me, but I believe it was around $200/year for me and $250/year for DH. That's the preferred, non-smoker rate.
We went through the whole application process including a blood test and medical history. I now have been given a quote of $400/year based on the history. I don't know what specifically excluded me from preferred status.
Questions:
1) Should I bother asking specifically what excluded me from preferred?
2) If I do find out, is there any appeal process if I feel it's not valid for some reason?
3) If there is a process, is it even worth it?
4) I understand there's a database that insurance companies use. Anyone know what information is stored there?
5) Should I bother trying to go through the whole process again to get a quote from another company?
We're still waiting on DH's quote, but I can guarantee you that he also didn't make preferred. Unfortunately we made several errors with him. One was that when the nurse was taking his history, he didn't hear her say "In the past 10 years have you...?" and instead answered based on his whole life. For example, he mentioned he had an ulcer in 2nd grade (after his parents divorced). But he's never had that problem again, and it's been over 20 years. So he should not have answered that, but it went into the file. Same with asthma, he has not had an episode or been treated for it for the past 10 years. The asthma is going to be a big deal for the insurance company, and it's a real shame for us since it honestly shouldn't have come up. (I made a few boo-boos myself, it wasn't just DH
).So now I just feel at a loss. I worry we permenently screwed up our chances to get insurance at a preferred rate, with any company.
Any advice?
