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In order to purchase Disability Income (DI) insurance, individuals' applications need to be underwritten.* The purpose of underwriting is for the insurance company to have the opportunity to evaluate its risk in offering you disability insurance.
The specifics of going through the underwriting process can be found here.
Generally, the insurance company is interested in learning certain things about the applicant including:
- current health and health history
- occupation
- income and net worth
- existing disability insurance owned or eligible for
- recent history of insurance applications submitted
- alcohol, tobacco, and/or drug use
- hazardous activities
- travel plans
While this might seem like a lot of information, it's important to realize that the insurance company has only one opportunity to underwrite the insured. Once an application has been approved (and assuming all information provided by the applicant is true to the best of his or her knowledge), the policy is issued, received and all delivery requirements are received by the company, the policy is in force and the insurance company is obligated to the guarantees and provisions in the policy as long as the premiums are paid on a timely basis.
Relative to the premium, the insurance company has a tremendous amount of money at risk in most good non-cancellable and guaranteed renewable disability insurance policies.
Current Health and Health History
Disability insurance is to protect from injuries or illnesses occurring in the future. There are certain conditions that can make one uninsurable. If these conditions are present during the application process or have existed in the past, getting individual disability insurance will be difficult and most likely impossible.
If you have no current or previous health conditions (including mental disorders) or disabling injuries , take no prescription medications (other than allergy or birth control pills) and your height and weight falls within the company's build chart guidelines, you have a very good chance of satisfying the medical underwriting requirements.
If you take prescription medications, have medical conditions or are significantly overweight, you still may qualify medically for ProVider Plus disability insurance.
Some conditions, such as spinal disc disease, can result in an exclusion. This means that you can get the coverage, but if disability occurs in the future related to or as a result of the spinal disc disease, you would not be covered. If disability occurred from an unrelated cause, you would be covered in accordance with the provisions of the policy.
Question on a Particular Medical Condition
Please feel welcome to contact us if you want more information about a medical condition. All information will be kept strictly confidential.
* Except certain riders on existing polices that allow you purchase additional benefits to existing policies with limited or no underwriting
More on the Disability Insurance Underwriting Process
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Policy Forms 0100, 1100 and 2100 are underwritten and issued by Berkshire Life Insurance Company of America, Pittsfield, MA, a wholly-owned stock subsidiary of The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America ("Guardian"), New York, NY. Policy Forms NC111 and NC112 in CA are provided by Guardian. Product provisions and features may vary by state. |
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