Why don’t insurance companies insure diabetic kids?
Filed under: Type 1, Childhood, Opinion, Products, Allie Beatty, Support, Personalities, Form and Function
Ed Hinerman, a life insurance specialist with the Hinerman Group, was posed an interesting challenge recently. For years he has successfully found affordable life insurance for many adults with type 1 diabetes, but he had never been asked about life insurance for children with Type 1 diabetes until now.
After speaking with underwriters in the top 40 or so companies, he found a discernible lack of interest due to lack of data. Companies would say that they couldn’t consider someone with type 1 diabetes until they were either age 15 or age 20. A peer in the industry told Ed the knee jerk reaction was because insurance companies haven’t done mortality studies on children. They simply don’t have any data upon which to base the pricing for products. Uh oh!! That coupled with the fact that there really isn’t any financial incentive for them to study and create products for a relatively small market that would produce relatively low premium, kind of sets the tone. Well, now the war has been defined and the battles are becoming clearer.
When Ed contacted the ADA for assistance in this matter - hold your breath (it’s a shocker!) - they turned a cold shoulder on a diabetic’s need. What if the diabetic;s parents were doing what so many families do - and trying to buy a whole life policy to help pay for their kids college someday? It’s really not fair! Here’s where fair begins — Ed asked me to gather some facts it will take to get the insurance companies attention. Does anybody have any idea what the mortality rates look like for Type 1 diabetic children?
Bottom line. Life insurance companies make big money and for them to cut and run from children just because it might not make them more big bucks, or because they really haven’t done their homework and aren’t interested in doing it, isn’t acceptable. Game on! I hope we can make a good showing, at the very least - hit one out of the park for the fans. Thanks for inviting me to play, Ed!
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