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Old 07-29-2015, 09:14 PM   #4
Slava
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Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Calgary, Alberta
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GP_Matt View Post
Do many term life policies include physicals to determine rates?
If so, how much of a swing would you see for a healthy person, average and unhealthy person?
The rates can actually vary quite a lot. Usually what I do is quote the average premiums for people, where they are of "average" health. Your personal situation can mean that you pay less than those averages (if you are healthier than average) or you can pay more (if you have some risk factors that in the eyes of the insurer increase the risk of death as compared to other people in your class.

It gets a little more complex than that because you can have an offer from an insurer for rates higher than you like, and we can apply elsewhere an attempt to get a better offer.

Lastly, about physicals, some applications do not require physicals. So for example some can be completed purely over the phone these days, and some can be completed only by a questionnaire which requires no physical, although they may want one after those answers. There are also some policies that have no physical required due to the amount of coverage being smaller.

I should add that I'm talking purely about policies that are standalone policies. They are not going to require underwriting at the time of claim, or providing the coverage only after a time period has elapsed or other stipulations. There are some policies that are guaranteed to be issued (with very few qualifications).


Quote:
Originally Posted by GP_Matt View Post
You may prefer not to answer this one, but is the best rate for a term policy typically through your current insurance broker (house and auto) or is it worth shopping around?
I think its worth shopping around to some extent because if you're talking about a "plain-jane" kind of life insurance policy (without investments attached, and no dividends or things like that) there aren't a lot of differences in the policies themselves. To put this somewhat brutally, the contracts are pretty simple; someone dies and someone gets paid. The death is easy to prove in the vast majority of cases, and the main stipulations are all standardized across companies. So its worth shopping around and seeing what the different companies offer for the same policy. Sometimes the differences are quite pronounced.

Of course I happen to know a guy who could give you some quotes if you like!
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