What if you're in pretty good health but you remove explosives for a living or go cave diving for a hobby? Will this affect your ability to qualify for term life insurance coverage and/or affect the quote you might receive. The answer is probably. Let's take a look at the implication of hazardous occupations and hobbies on your life insurance options.

First, it's impressive that you see the importance of life insurance in light of your life-defying interests or maybe it's because of them. The term life insurance carriers will unfortunately take this into account when underwriting your application for the simple reason that your mortality risk is higher. Mortality risk is a fancy way to say that your probability or change of death is higher than average with such occupations and hobbies. Now for the good news. Occupation and hobbies use to be a significant consideration in the underwriting process. Workplace safety has improved so much over the last three to four decades that many jobs are no longer really considered an issue. Obviously, there are some jobs that still merit concern and explosive removal would be at the top of the list. If you have questions on your particular profession, please email us and we will help with some guidance. Another concern would be jobs that include a high exposure to dust, chemicals, particulates, etc that have been tied to increase disease and resulting death (paint and asbestos tied to cancer being the obvious).

So what will the carrier do if a person applies with a red-listed occupation? They may offer the coverage but at a higher rate or decline the coverage altogether. Any additional health issues would make approval even less likely in conjunction with a hazardous occupation.

Dangerous hobbies can also impact a person's ability to qualify for term life insurance or the resulting life premium that is offered. Hobbies such as sky diving, scuba-diving, auto or motorcycle racing are some of the common concerns that would affect a carrier's decision.

Personal habits are separate from hobbies but equally important in qualification. History of excessive alcohol use, drug use, or other items resulting from personal decision making can be viewed by the underwriter. The life underwriter will also look to see if the amount of coverage applied for seems excessive for their person's financial needs. For example, if a single person who earns $50K annually applies for $5 million dollars in term life insurance, this may raise some red flags to the underwriter. The carrier will look at the applied amount in conjunction with other existing term life insurance to make sure a person is not attempting to over-insure themselves. The concern there is that a person may know of potential risk and is attempting fraud with the purchase of a large amount of life insurance.

Even though hazardous occupations or hobbies can impact a person's eligibility and/or offered rate, it's extremely important to answer this section of the  term life application honestly and completely. The carrier can rescind coverage if there is missing information or any type of misrepresentation. It defeats the purpose of acquiring term life insurance only to have no benefit when the unforeseen occurs. Please inquire with us about your situation so we can evaluate the options available for adequate life insurance coverage.