Life Insurance Policies for Low Stage Melanoma: Advancements in Fair Underwriting

original post 2/28/14 updated 7/2023

As I write about life insurance policies for low stage melanoma, I know you folks in the northeast are not thinking about skin cancer right now. You are likely focused on the never ending thunderstorms, flooding and Canadian wildfire smoke. My prayers go out to you. Here in the southwest we are heading deeper into drought and looking at the potential of another hot, dry summer. For us, the happening news is that underwriting for life insurance policies for low stage melanoma, seems to be improving daily. Exciting life here, huh? OK. OK. A bit of an exaggeration. We do have, uh, great sunsets.

More Fair Underwriting

I know I’m always coming across as this up beat guy who sees the life insurance industry becoming more fair by the moment. But this year we have seen HIV+ clients approved by more companies for traditional life insurance than ever. I won’t say that people are flocking to this forum, but those that get the word are telling their friends about the fact that real change is happening.

We continue to see progress and underwriting improvement in life insurance for those with well controlled depression and anxiety. We are consistently seeing preferred or better life insurance rates for people with even severe, but well controlled sleep apnea.

Life Insurance Policies for Low Stage Melanoma

Melanoma, a cancer that used to strike fear into life insurance underwriters because they never really had enough mortality data to understand that lower stages weren’t a harbinger of the client’s life to come, but caught early and with reasonable followup, were receiving amazing offers. Life insurance underwriting for Stage 0, melanoma insitu has reached a point where, in some cases, life insurance can be underwritten and approved shortly after the excision is done and healed and the margins declared clear.

I’m not here to declare that melanoma isn’t the horrible killer it can be, but in lower stages of 0 and 1, it is treated far differently today than it was 20 years ago or even 10 years ago in life insurance underwriting. Why? Because people are more cautious about things that look out of place, and doctors are smarter about recommending examinations and when people have a scare. Whether it is basal cell carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma or melanoma, they become absolutely regimental about being checked regularly and recommending that their family and friends do the same.

The Bottom Line

I am proud of the underwriting side of our life insurance industry. It gags me sometimes all of the self serving products the companies create and it bothers me daily that companies will attract people to work as agents and then not give them the tools to understand and do it correctly.

I can’t do much to change those things but I can make sure that I help as many clients as I can in my lifetime to turn life insurance declines into approvals, turn bad life insurance experiences into good ones, and help families who don’t have an easy route to affordable life insurance, find it. If you have any questions or would like to understand how your life insurance situation can be seen through the lens of fair underwriting, call or email me directly.

My name is Ed Hinerman. Let’s talk. Hey. I really answer the phone.