LSM Founder Lorne Marr and Senior Broker Jack Bendahan took the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge!
Please ALS Canada and help find a cure. LSM Insurance will be matching the first $50 donated through our Ice Bucket Challenge donation page.
Here are some other popular Ice Bucket Challenges worth taking a look (and having a laugh) at:
Rob Ford
Montreal Canadiens’ P.K. Subban
Toronto Maple Leafs’ Nazim Kadri and The Toronto Raptors’ Mascot
Bill Gates
George W. Bush
How Amyotrophic Lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig’s Disease) impacts people’s ability to get life insurance
In terms of life insurance, ALS is classified as a Motor Neuron Disease and while other Motor Neuron Diseases like Multiple Sclerosis can qualify for traditional fully underwritten life insurance, in most instances ALS is not available for traditional policies. Non-medical life insurance is an option for people with ALS.
Non-medical policies can be broken down into two categories:
- Guaranteed Issue policies with no health questions and no medical tests. Guaranteed Issue plans are more expensive, have more limited face amounts and generally have a two-year waiting period on the death benefit.
- Simplified Issue plans have a short series of health questions and no medical tests. Some Simplified Issued Issue plans do not have any ALS questions but often have a catch-all question asking “if you are hospitalized or bedridden.” Simplified Issue plans are more expensive than traditional policies but less expensive and less restrictive than Guaranteed Issue plans.
Why is there a 2 year waiting period for death benefits in Guaranteed policies? Which one would you recommend a person diagnosed with ALS choose: Simplified or Guaranteed?
Mario, there is a 2 year waiting period because their are no health questions – so the insurance company does this to mitigate some of the risk. A Simplified Issue would be a better value but we would have to verify the application question wording with you.