What Should I Do If My Application Is Declined?

There's hope
if you're declined.
Photo by Ibrahim Iujaz

When someone applies for life insurance in Canada, only one of three things can happen:

1. The policy is approved. This happens to about 80% of all applicants, although the number is much higher among younger applicants, since younger people are generally healthier.

2. The policy is issued, but on a rated basis. This means that the insured is approved, but the premiums are higher due to health or lifestyle issues.

3. The application is declined. Once again, this would be related to health or lifestyle issues, but in this instance the insured is denied insurance completely.

The Wall Street Journal: Nothing Morbid About Child Life Policy

Child life policy.
Credit: Eric McGregor

For most people, a life insurance policy is a way to protect assets or maintain a lifestyle for dependents when the main breadwinner passes away. This makes such policies for children seem unnecessary and even morbid.

But insurance broker Lorne Marr argues juvenile policies can be a financial "gift" for parents to bestow upon their children, ensuring lifelong coverage at a relatively low price. A Term 20 policy begun when a child is two, for example, will be fully paid by the time the child leaves university, can be upgraded at specific milestones, and means the child is covered even if he or she later develops a serious medical condition.

LSM Insurance Helps Cricketers raise funds for Haiti victims

Nearly 200 players including under-19 and women cricket players attended the opening ceremony of a three-week cricket tournament in Toronto will be played to help raise awareness and funds for the disaster relief effort in Haiti.

(LSM Insurance Helps Cricketers raise funds for Haiti victims continued...)

BMO Insurance’s Business Guaranteed Insurability Option

A new rider
for business owners.
Credit: Lindsey Lissau

There's a new advantage to being a business owner in the market for insurance, thanks BMO Insurance and it's Business Guaranteed Insurability Option.

What is it?

It is a rider giving business owners the option of purchasing additional insurance over a ten-year span without having to go through added medical tests or questioning.

Haiti Life Insurance Cricket Sponsorship

LSM Insurance Cricket for Haiti

Following Haiti's worst earthquake in its recent history, Life Insurance Canada decided to help and contribute to this country's regeneration. Together with The Cricket Champions League the support event called 'LSM Insurance Cricket for Haiti' was launched this February at two places at the same time.

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Group Insurance Controlling Drug Care Costs

Prescription drugs
on the rise
Credit: Okko Pyykko

Drug costs are on this rise, According to an article in the Globe and Mail, government subsidy has tripled and the public cost has doubled. Good thing drug plans are the most significant cost component of a group insurance plan.

The following four variables can help control the cost of drug plans and keep your company’s group premiums in check:

Why Buy Life Insurance?

Why buy life Insurance? credit: Robby McKee

Maybe you're one of those people who sees life insurance as an endless money pit with no immediate benefit. After all, what exactly are you paying for? It can not be seen or grasped in your hand. For people like you, the question immediately becomes -- Why Buy Life Insurance?

Life insurance is a selfless and intangible asset. Life insurance proceeds do not benefit the insured, and the benefit cannot be seen. Having said that, life insurance can impact the lives and well being of your family for generations. The proceeds from a life insurance policy are paid out TAX FREE and the reasons to buy life insurance are numerous:

Life Insurance in Canada and the Terminal Illness Benefit

What's the difference?
Critical Illness and
Terminal Illness Benefit.

Many life insurance companies in Canada offer a terminal illness benefit as a built-in feature in their life insurance policies. It's important that terminal illness coverage not be confused with Critical Illness coverage. A Terminal illness feature means that the insurance company will generally allow the insured to access up to 50% of the face amount (usually they will state a specific maximum) when the insured is diagnosed with less than one year to live.

Life Insurance Beneficiary Designations

Learn beneficiary distinctions.
Help yourself protect your family.
Credit: Ted Bongiovanni

Life insurance beneficiary designation can either be revocable or
irrevocable.

A revocable beneficiary can be changed by the owner of the policy without the signature of the beneficiary. An irrevocable beneficiary gives the beneficiary extra ordinary powers, so that policy changes can only be made with the signatures of the owner of the policy and the beneficiary.

Why Life Insurance Can Be Ideal for Final Expenses

Don't leave your loved ones in the lurch
photo by Diana Malm

No one wants to leave their family holding the bag when they pass on, not with bills, debts and funeral expenses. This is why Life Insurance can be an ideal fit for final expenses. The following benefits are hard to ignore:

5 Reasons It Makes Sense to Insure Children with Life Insurance

It may make sense to insure your kids
photo by Kipp Jones

Putting a life insurance policy on a child may seem like just something insurance broker parents do to collect an easy commission. After all, they have no dependents and they're expected to out live those that raise them. Not so fast, there is a method in the perceived madness. 

The following are 5 reasons why insuring a child can make sense:

Life Insurance and Natural Disaster

Thousands of Canadian Haitians are holding their collective breath waiting for word on the fate of their friends and family, while the rest of us are counting are lucky stars that the same potential fate didn't befall us.

Haiti Earthquake by UNDP

According to the United Nations Environment Programme's Global Environment Outlook, earthquakes are among the most expensive natural disasters, along with floods and windstorms. Earthquakes accounted for 30% of all damage by natural disasters from 1950-2001. Howver, they account for only 9% of the human cost, paling in comparison to famine, which killed 42% of people, but accounts for only 4% of the total damage over those years.

Underwriting Guidelines: Alcoholism is Not a Barrier to Life Insurance

A dependence on alcohol does
not have to bar you or your family
from the benefits of life insurance.
photo by "phogel"

Occasionally we take a look at those factors that mean the difference between approval and denial when it comes to qualifying for life insurance. Today, as we come back from the no doubt champagne fueled festivities that rang in the new year, we reveal that an alcohol addicted past is not necessarily a barrier to insurance -- at least, not according to the underwriting guidelines of Manulife Financial.

(Underwriting Guidelines: Alcoholism is Not a Barrier to Life Insurance continued...)