When I am not sure about a case I usually call the company for a underwriting accessment. Today I had a man who had a stroke in 2001 and hasn't been abl to talk since. Most companies won't write because he can't do a PHI. A couple of the ones that don't do a PHI said he was not qualify because he had a paralysis. I didn't realize his condition was caused by that. Had a woman who had a heart valve surgery 8 years ago. One carrier told me she wasn't qualified because that is tissue transplant. How is an agent supposed to know what these companies mean by the wording on their app?
How Do You Know for Sure?
- Thread starter billyb
- Start date
- 113
That is why you have an up line.
If yours isn't available for your calls, doesn't know or tells you that you need to call an underwriter first, I would recommend you find another up line.
If yours isn't available for your calls, doesn't know or tells you that you need to call an underwriter first, I would recommend you find another up line.
- Thread starter
- #3
- 19,053
If your intent is to continue to make your job more difficult then continue to call the companies. If anyone at the company could actually sell their product they wouldn't be at the company.
The first guy I would have written with a company based on his answers to the application questions and that appears to be any of them in the FE arena.
The second one would the same. I would have written her with a company based on the application questions.
In neither case would I have called the company.
Tom gave you good advice. You chose to argue his advice. You obviously do not have an upline that knows how to sell FE or you have chosen to not advantage of them if they do know.
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Good to see JD hasn't changed a bit since I've been gone.... Missed that!
- 1,472
I call whoever I feel like. I call the company, and if I don't like their answer, I call the upline. If I don't like the upline answer, I call the company. And if I don't like either of their answers I get on this forum and I ask you guys. JDis right though, those guys can't sell the product, so I don't call them for sales advice. Just ask them what the protocol is.
- 29,532
When in doubt I call UW for clarification because different companies look at these questions/conditions differently.
Can he say yes or no to where you can understand him? I had a lady that had a stroke a few years earlier and you couldn't understand her when she talked. I explained this to the interviewer at ACI and they let me give the info(which she had to verify with yes answers), but she had to answer the health questions(this was right before they started doing script checks). She could do that well enough and she got Level.
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Not everyone has an up line, Tom. Some agents actually preach that the best thing you can do is have contracts all over the place, and then come to the forums for help. It's hard to feel good about calling someone for help, when they don't see very much of your business. lol
- 19,053
I didn't say to never call the company. Context!
I called Equitable yesterday for clarification on the tobacco question on their med sups. I know on their life that cigar and pipe smokers and chewers and dippers and eCig users are non tobacco. On their med sups they spell out that pipe and cigar smokers and chewers and dippers are the same as cigarettes. They don't mention eCigs. I called to see if eCigs are non tobacco on the med sups. They are, BTW.
I called another company recently about that on life. Their question was "tobacco?". Some agents were taking that to mean eCigs were a no answer since they weren't tobacco. In that case the company said eCigs were a yes answer.
So things like that where you need an interpretation? Yes. But to call and ask them about a clear question on the app? For one example, the question asks about heart attack, heart surgery, stroke, TIA in the last 2 years? If the prospect says no then I'm not calling the company to ask them if they really mean 2 years.
Companies spend hundreds of thousands to design their applications. The apps are designed how they want them. I was told many years ago, RTFA!
I didn't get offended when I was told that. I took the advice. Now, I give that advice on some of our chats, RTFA, and some get offended.
- Thread starter
- #10
I called Aetna because this man can't answer the questions on the app and I thought they might allow me or the spouse complete the PHI. The underwriter told me he would only qualify for graded because of #7B. I did not think that the fact that he lost his ability to talk would be considered a permanent paralysis so without talking to an underwriter I would have answered the question wrong.
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