<div><em>For those who are not maintaining a healthy lifestyle, it’s still not too late to get insured. <strong>Sunil Dhawan </strong>explains how</em></div><div> </div><div>The lifestyle and working conditions are taking a toll on the health of most of us. It is becoming common for most people to complain about health conditions once one crosses the age of 40. To make matter worse, there are many who not only are overweight but also smoke and drink besides working in a high-stress job and keeping irregular hours. What’s more, they do not have any life and health protection for their family members. This makes them fall in the high risk category when it comes to insurance coverage. </div><div> </div><div>However, nothing keeps them away from being insured. Being overweight or a chain-smoker and a heavy drinker certainly puts them in a high-risk category as far as life insurance is concerned. But, that does not mean that they cannot get a life or a health cover.</div><div> </div><div>Medical underwriting: In addition to the financial underwriting that every insurer does to decide how much of life cover can be given to an individual, they also have in place the medical underwriting guidelines that help them to decide on the health profile of the individual. Some of the factors considered for placing a life on high or low risk health profile are height, weight, state of health, history of disease, amount of cover and the occupation. The insurer also carries out a series of medical tests to determine the health risks. </div><div> </div><div><strong>Pay extra ‘loading’:</strong> The high-risk people brings adverse risk into the pool and therefore the persons with good health stands at a disadvantage. Those who are not in the right state of health i.e. not within the insurer’s norms with regard to medical conditions are made to pay up extra.</div><div> </div><div>For all lives falling under the normal health category, the insurers cover the risk and the life protection is provided to the individual. However, the moment the risk appears to be high as per the insurer's standards, the insurer resorts to asking higher premium from the individuals. This is called the 'loading', 'rating' or 'extra-premium', which the individual has to pay over and above the premium, which is paid by healthy-class of individuals. </div><div> </div><div>In certain cases, the life protection is totally declined to the individual and the entire premium, is paid back to the individual. This is because, according to the defined benchmarks, the life of the individual is considered too risky and the insurer is reluctant to offer any level of protection to the individual. </div><div> </div><div>However, that might not be the case always. Perceived medical factors like being overweight should not be the reason for one to stay away from applying for life cover. Even a normal looking and healthy individual may be declined a protection if negative factors surface after the medical tests. </div><div> </div><div><strong>What to do in case of ‘loading’:</strong> Having asked to pay up the “loading’ should not deter someone not to go ahead. Remember, insurers isn’t denying but asking for extra to cover the additional risk based on health conditions. In case, the 'loading' is too high, then one might be reluctant to go ahead and buy. One may in that case either lower the amount of life cover or lower the term of the plan. </div><div> </div><div><strong>Health cover</strong>: In case of health insurance, the insurer might as well ask you to undergo medical tests and submit reports. Also, the pre-existing diseases are never covered for the initial 2-4 years. Hence, company’s risk is reduced to that extent. It is certainly not too late for cutting down on weight and stop the use of tobacco for a better health, for you and your family. </div><div> </div><div><strong>End note:</strong> When the sum assured is high, it calls for tests. The process involve setting up doctor’s appointment and then waiting for reports to be analyzed. To cut the process short, it is a common practice by many insurance agents to avoid the medical tests route. They may ask you to keep a low sum assured so that tests can be avoided. </div><div> </div><div>Essentially, one is compromising on the protection in doing so. <br> </div><div>Get a need analysis done and arrive at the right amount of coverage you need for the sake of your family members. </div><div> </div><div>Go for the tests and then based on the ‘loading’ if any decide to stick or modify the life coverage a bit. </div><div> </div><div>Bring a change in your lifestyle activities, go for well-ness programmes and come back in shape. </div><div> </div><div>Ask for increasing the coverage amount thereafter. Many insurance plans allows increase in coverage on policy anniversary or at important milestones such as birth of child. </div><div> </div><div>Remember, the golden rule remains the same -buying insurance when one is in the best of heath is the right approach. </div><div> </div>
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