Monday, February 25, 2008

Life Insurance? Plan on paying through the nose if you're fat

Well, I got a damned rude awakening today. DH has been on me for the last few months to get life insurance, just in case. Do you know that out of all the insurance companies out there who offer life insurance, 99% of them use height/weight tables to decide if they'll insure you? I didn't know that until today, when I talked to an insurance agent. He handles 40 different companies, and only one of them has no request for height and weight on the application form. He talked to 4 other agents, who between them, handle another 60 to 80 different companies, and all of them want to know height and weight. Most of them, if you're "overweight" or "obese", forget it, no life insurance for you (and if they will insure you, you're going to pay double or triple what a thin person would). This is just fucking outrageous!
If you're fat, it doesn't matter if you don't smoke/drink and follow HAES, you're still more of a risk than a thin person who smokes and/or drinks (and doesn't exercise or follow HAES).
I was lucky, the agent I talked to had one company who doesn't ask height/weight, they just ask questions about heart/lungs/AIDS/smoking. I know this is a good company, my grandparents got insurance on each of us kids when we were born, annuity policies, I think they were, so they've been in business for more than 50 years. Anyway, they paid premiums on them until we were each 18 and then we could either keep the policy or cash it in (mine was $500, I used it for part of the down payment for a house I bought when I was 23, shithole that it was).
So health insurance isn't the only thing we're being screwed on, people, it's life insurance too. If you don't have any now, you really should look into getting some before the insurance companies decide they won't insure fatties at all at any price. I can see it coming (my insurance agent told me that he had 5 companies last year who didn't ask for height/weight, but they started asking for that information this year).

ETA: If you live in the UK, it's even worse, Obese face 50% tax on life insurance. That's just if you're fat. If you have other risk factors, such as smoking or previous health conditions, you can pay up to 400% more for your life insurance. Those increased premiums don't get you any extra coverage either. You're paying that 400% more for the same coverage you would get if your BMI was below 30 (or 33 or 35, or whatever cut-off the insurance company decides is too risky for them).
Talk about making money off hysteria, the insurance companies are doing that, all right, hand over fucking fist. Just because they think fat people die sooner than thin ones.

15 comments:

  1. Wow. What did you end up doing? And if you don't mind, what was the final price for your insurance?

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  2. I got $25,000 whole life for less than $65 a month, and consider myself lucky. The rate is fixed, and the benefit amount can't go down, so I took it (I was figuring anything less than $100 a month was going to be a bargain, from my research online).

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  3. Where you specifically looking for whole life? I had no problems getting a term life policy almost two years ago.. I even got the lower rate for being healthy (even though I'm obese).

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  4. I was just looking for life insurance, the agent said whole life would be my best bet (I would end up paying less and getting more over the long run). I tried going through the company that has our house/car insurance and they wouldn't even talk to me because I'm fat (they don't like doing life or health insurance at all). When I was working, I didn't worry about it, I had my life insurance through work, but when I quit, I couldn't afford to pay the premiums they would have charged me as a non-employee. I figure if I live another 30 years, I'll have paid about $23,000 in premiums for $25,000 of insurance, and if something happens before then, DH or my son will be able to afford my cremation and have a bit left over to celebrate my passing.......lol
    I researched the different kinds of life insurance, and whole life made the most sense, from what I could see.

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  5. This is just a thought to toss in here for Fat Activists in general: I know a lot of work is being done to raise awareness, but we already know for a fact that BMI is irrelevant to health. Would it be worth taking up a petition or letter writing campaign to the Federal Trade Commission, the ACLU and any other consumer protection service to bar insurance agencies from using this as a measure in insuring people?

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  6. I think it probably would be a very good idea, especially if we could cite studies showing that "obesity" doesn't shorten life expectancies. I had thought about writing a letter, but wasn't sure what agency should get it, other than maybe the ACLU. I don't think one letter would do a whole lot of good, but maybe a few hundred (or more) would make some impression.

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  7. Haha, try getting life insurance when you are fat and pregnant! Holy money grubbing batman!

    You should write a letter. It's discrimination. Do they charge African American's more for being at higher risk of heart attack? Doubt it.

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  8. Oh, I would imagine they do, one of the questions asked is if you have any kind of heart problem (and they list quite a few types in the question). So if you answer yes to heart problems of any kind, you either get charged more or you don't get insurance at all. Also, if you die of a problem you had when you got the insurance and omitted telling the insurance co. about it, they don't have to pay. They have ya coming and going.

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  9. I've had life insurance for two years. The company is the same that my grandfather uses. Unfortunately they have succumbed to the "fatter is a bigger risk despite being in good health" misconception, so I pay $21.00 a month instead of the $15.00 a month. I did question why I had to pay more for my weight even though I have no heart problems and I'm not diabetic. But because my grandfather had bypass surgery and is borderline diabetic and most of my relatives have this history, , that gives them an out to charge more. UGH!!! Why can't they look at the individuals and not the family as a whole? Just because a relative has a condition, it doesn't mean you'll have it too.

    --Bree

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  10. My husband recently applied for life insurance and we found out that being fat is considered a "pre-existing condition" so if his death was caused by anything that could be remotely connected to being fat, they wouldn't pay out. Needless to say he doesn't have life insurance, not that many people in Australia do actually.

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  11. I think they're playing the odds and betting that because family members have that history, you have a greater chance of having those same things, no matter how healthy you are. Doesn't matter if you don't get any of those diseases, they're looking at odds, not reality.

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  12. Yes it's definitely true. Here in Canada we don't penalise people -out of the limits-, but we give bonuses to people, who are living by more healthy way. I think it is a good thing. Insurance company has to pretect itself - it is the same as a car insurance. The longer you are driving without accident, the bigger bonus you get (bit sarcastic to compare body and car, but it's true). We have info about bonuses and medical tests in Canada on our Canada life insurance , take a look if you are interested...

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  13. L I C - That's all well and good, if you live in Canada. I don't. And I'm just cynical enough to think that even if my test results were stellar as far as heart, lungs, blood pressure, blood sugar, cholesterol, etc, just the fact that I'm super morbidly obese (according to the BMI and doctors) would cost me a pretty penny in penalties. My fat would trump my health, and that's not something I'm willing to risk (not to mention that if I did go through a physical for life insurance and get turned down, no other life insurance company would touch me, since they all share that information).

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  14. Like all investors, Life insurance companies have to take every aspect into affect when issuing you a policy. They want to make sure they are getting the proper amount of return for the “risk” they are taking on insuring your life. This means that if a person has a higher risk of dying due to age, occupation or medical conditions they are going to have to pay a higher premium than someone who is younger and in good health.
    http://termlifeinsuranceinc.com/getting-approved-for-life-insurance-if-you-are-obese-or-overweight/

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  15. Marie Gee - Did you even bother to read any of the comments and my responses? We've all covered all of those reasons, and like I said in my last comment, it doesn't matter how healthy I am, and that the ONLY "risk factor" for dying young that I have is that I'm DEATHFATZ (which doesn't mean shit, really, as all of my grandparents were fat and they all lived well into their 80s/90s), if I had to take a physical for life insurance, I would be paying a hell of a lot more than I am now. And why the hell should I have to pay that much more JUST because I'm fat? Fat does NOT mean unhealthy, just as thin does NOT mean healthy, not in every case. Yes, there are unhealthy people that are fat, but it's not because they're fat, it's because they're sedentary and eat crappy food, which also applies to thin people who are sedentary and eat crappy food, but those thin people aren't paying more for life insurance unless they take a physical and they have high blood pressure, or high blood sugar, or high cholesterol; and at that, they'll still pay less in premiums than a fat person who doesn't have any of those problems. So, the statistics that insurance companies use to determine risk aren't valid, period.

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