Assurant on CBS news tonight

[SME]

Another thing that bothers me is that the reporter says that he was paying for insurance at that time. Does that mean that he is currently uninsured? Did he drop his policy after it didn't pay and will soon be complaining that he can not get health insurance at a reasonable rate because he nows has a pre-x.
I can see the follow up article now. Poor poor man cancelled his health insurance, now has huge bills and can not get insurance. What crap.

 

[Crabcake Johnny]

I get a lot of advice that for liability reasons clients should always fill out their own applications. I have found that clients do not have any clue as to what "counts" as a pre-existing condition. Aside from that, people will have a natural tendency to down-play their true health or lie outright for fear the policy won't be issued.

I ask a simple question to every prospect "Do you have any diagnosed health conditons." About 70% say no. When I'm done with a thorough pre-screen about 90% have something that must be noted on the app. Everyone of us hears "but I stopped using depression medication 2 years ago" or "I haven't seen a doctor for my back pain yet." Better yet are "Yeah, I had chest pains 6 months ago and my doctor ran a battery of test and couldn't find anything wrong." Errrr.

The news is jammed with articles where companies yank policies back. I'd say an overwhelming majority were filled out by the client.

I consider it a service to my clients that part of what I do is protect them against a claims review and it's discussed at each presentation.

 

[J.R.]

I get a lot of advice that for liability reasons clients should always fill out their own applications. I have found that clients do not have any clue as to what "counts" as a pre-existing condition. Aside from that, people will have a natural tendency to down-play their true health or lie outright for fear the policy won't be issued.

I ask a simple question to every prospect "Do you have any diagnosed health conditons." About 70% say no. When I'm done with a thorough pre-screen about 90% have something that must be noted on the app. Everyone of us hears "but I stopped using depression medication 2 years ago" or "I haven't seen a doctor for my back pain yet." Better yet are "Yeah, I had chest pains 6 months ago and my doctor ran a battery of test and couldn't find anything wrong." Errrr.

The news is jammed with articles where companies yank policies back. I'd say an overwhelming majority were filled out by the client.

I consider it a service to my clients that part of what I do is protect them against a claims review and it's discussed at each presentation.

Agreed. I really hammer claims review and 9X's out of 10 I have done a great job because the client is better educated then they were before talking to me, and secondly.... trust and credibility and go way up!

1 out of 30 people start talking about things that they had forgotten about at the beginning of the conversation or "conveniently" left out....

HaHa, I had one client start giong back 15+ years before I had to cut him off and explain the importance of answering specific questions that I ask.