Dilemma (weight and life insurance)

dlwyatt82 · May 2012

There's probably no "right" answer for this; I'm just looking for opinions. My weigh-in and measurements this morning (using the military calculator on fat2fit) put me at 314.1 pounds, 39.7% body fat, and roughly 190 pounds of lean mass.

I applied for life insurance recently, to make sure my wife and baby are taken care of if something happens to me. Yesterday, I got a call back from the broker, and the company's offer for a policy to cover me would cost more than double what we originally discussed. The only thing driving that price up is weight; I have no other chronic health issues. With the baby coming and us going from 2 incomes down to 1, I'm uncertain as to what we can afford right now.

I have a few decisions to make about how to handle this, but the common factor in all of them is getting my weight down under whatever their limit is to get better rates (whether I take out a policy now, or wait until the weight is off before applying again). The dilemma lies in deciding whether to continue exercising as I have been, lifting weights 3x a week, with cardio here and there. We all know that this will be better in the long run, but results in slower movement on the scale. Unfortunately, the scale just became kind of important. I may be able to "lose weight" faster by laying off the weightlifting and just focusing on diet for the next several months, at the expense of dropping lean mass and strength as well. I don't really have any educated guesses as to what the time difference might be between these two approaches (ie, 12-16 months to reach goal with no exercise, 18-26 months if I continue to lift weights, that kind of thing).

What choice would you make here? Go for broke on moving the scale down to get the insurance coverage faster, or keep up the current pace? I hate the thought of where things would stand financially for my wife and baby if I got hit by a bus today. We just bought our first house, and the coverage offered through my employer doesn't even pay off the mortgage. It's stressing the hell out of me.

GuruOnAMountain · May 2012

What about looking around and seeing if there are any other insurance brokers who either don't charge at all for overweight people (although this might be hard to find) or doesn't charge as much as the other broker?

peuglow · May 2012

Why don't you shop around for other insurance companies? There are ones out there that don't require a physical. The payout may be lower, but just get one that covers basic needs, lose your weight, then find a new one when you weight less.

mcdizzysummers · May 2012

Hi, I can understand why you are stressing, but sit back and look at the options you have given. 1, carrying on lifting weights and training for a slower weight loss, but will stay off or 2, just diet and don't exercise. There's a third option, carry on dieting but drop the weights, continue with the cardio, making sure that when you train, you train in the fat burning zone for your heart rate. Whatever you do, don't give up on exercise completely. Personally, I would drop heavy weights at the moment and just do lighter weights with more reps, which wil help you tone up, but not build huge muscle mass. Good luck with it and good luck with the baby. (This is just personal opinion btw) xx

golferd · May 2012

Check with your employer or spouse, and see if you can increase with group coverage. No underwriting. Or go with a shorter term until your weight drops. Annual renewable, 10 year

Make sure you are not doing cash-value life insurance

dlwyatt82 · May 2012

The broker doesn't set the price; he's actually getting me quotes from several different companies. As far as I can tell, there aren't any life insurance companies in Canada that wouldn't be charging more for obese customers.

Microfiber_wechange · May 2012

And why are you thinking about being run over by a bus anyway. Be positive and live life fully

dlwyatt82 · May 2012

There are a lot of details I left out about what type of policies I'm looking at, or what my options are at this point. My post here just focused on the fitness-related concerns.

But if you're curious, the quotes I got are for 10-year and 20-year term insurance (not cash value). They're intended to pay off our debts and have enough left over to total around 10 years worth of my lost income (which should probably stretch out to around 20 years if the market is good). When I spoke to the broker yesterday, he seemed confident that I could take a policy now at the higher price, get a new medical exam down the road when I've lost enough weight, and the rates would go down. Until I actually see the contract on paper, I'm not taking that for granted, but it's an option.

When we originally discussed these policies (before the medical exam), he checked with several companies just based on our ages, and said that he could get me rate "X" for a 20-year term policy. X happened to be just about exactly the amount of a raise I received at work a few weeks ago, and it was my intention to go that route (which would save money in the long-term, as a second 10-year policy starting at age 41 is much more expensive).

The new numbers for the 20-year policy are about 2.25X, and about 1.25X for a 10-year policy. I might be able to afford the 20-year option even at the increased price, but I'm not sure. It's a tough time to make that decision, until after the baby is born and we've had at least a couple of months to sort out the budget.

As I see them so far, I have a few ways I could handle this:

Take either of the offered policies now, so long as it's spelled out in the contract that if I get another medical exam and am under a stated maximum weight, my rates immediately convert to the original quoted value of X. Not sure if they'd agree to that sort of contract (or what their usual contract contains), but I'm not locking myself into the higher cost for 20 years when I could be reaching a normal weight in just 1 or 2.

Take a much shorter policy (not sure if they offer terms shorter than ten years, would have to research that) for now, and apply for a 10- or 20-year when it expires.

Wait to get any additional coverage, and apply again in a year or two (and hope that damn bus doesn't hit me between now and then).

I'll be calling the broker later today to see which of these options are on the table. Regardless of which way I go, I still have to decide how I'm going to continue with the weight loss.

Edit: It may be obvious, but I've never purchased life insurance before. My assumptions about how the contracts work may be way off.

dlwyatt82 · May 2012

I spoke to my broker this afternoon. He's assured me that there are no insurance companies in Canada that have any sort of early-cancellation fee for term policies, so he's recommending that I take the cheaper 10-year price they offered, and after I've lost the weight (however long that takes), I can either ask them to lower my rates, or just cancel the policy and apply anew at another company, whichever works out better for me.

That may mean that my 20-year rate at that time is higher than what they quoted me this time around, just due to being slightly older, but should be better than what they're asking right now.

therealangd · May 2012

I spoke to my broker this afternoon. He's assured me that there are no insurance companies in Canada that have any sort of early-cancellation fee for term policies, so he's recommending that I take the cheaper 10-year price they offered, and after I've lost the weight (however long that takes), I can either ask them to lower my rates, or just cancel the policy and apply anew at another company, whichever works out better for me.

That may mean that my 20-year rate at that time is higher than what they quoted me this time around, just due to being slightly older, but should be better than what they're asking right now.

We did the same thing when I quit smoking. I had to have quit for one year and they reduced the rates after a medical exam. Easy Peasy. (I'm in Canada too)

Dilemma (weight and life insurance)

Replies

Categories