Life Insurance Question

[Tony]

Read over this thread a while back.... issues with cave diving and life insurance...

http://www.cavediver.net/forum/showt...life+insurance

I recently had to apply for an additional life insurance policy. In the application I was very clear about my diving. Listed the certifying agencies and the types of dives. There was a required telephone interview with the underwritter and we had a clear discussion of cave diving.

Today, I received my approved application. I have reviewed the policy and can find no exclusion for diving of any kind. What is more, they have rated my policy 'preferred'...

I completely expected there to be an exclusion for cave diving or at least a rated policy premium... not finding it makes be think I must be missing it!!!

For you guys who have received policies with exclusions for cave diving, how was that information listed??? Just want to make sure they haven't hid that in some fine print...

Thanks!

[karst.window]

If your premium didn't change then I would read over the policy and/or possibly make a phone call. My premium jumped significantly when cave/tech diving was underwritten into the policy. I also had the same and very specific conversation with a separate underwriter with regards to the type and frequency of dives I was making. Just be safe rather than sorry.

[mfascuba]

When I took out my current policy I had been cave diving for a while and the underwriter wanted to do a phone interview to understand what I did, etc. I thought the interview went well, and the policy came thru without any issues or exclusions. I did read it very carefully when it arrived to make sure, and even called the agent to confirm that I was covered. No problems since!

Mark

[Puttzer]

Read over this thread a while back.... issues with cave diving and life insurance...



I completely expected there to be an exclusion for cave diving or at least a rated policy premium... not finding it makes be think I must be missing it!!!

For you guys who have received policies with exclusions for cave diving, how was that information listed??? Just want to make sure they haven't hid that in some fine print...

Thanks!

Of course, this brings up the issue: why are we concerned about being covered when cave diving?

I thought this was a safe sport for cautious and trained cave divers.

That said: the comments thus far are interesting.

Richard

[cwj]

Of course, this brings up the issue: why are we concerned about being covered when cave diving?

I thought this was a safe sport for cautious and trained cave divers.

That said: the comments thus far are interesting.

Richard

I guess with any sport, there's a possibility of death. I enjoy marathons and ultradistance events. Death is unfortunately not all that uncommon. But, I think there's rarely a question that one's plan will not pay out if one suffers cardiac arrest or some other catastrophic event resulting in death. Other high-impact but otherwise innocuous sports (eg, raquetball, swimming) combined with particular health risk profiles, also increases the risk of death. The difference seems to be insurers are paranoid about cave-diving along with a handful of other "extreme" sports, to the point of excluding coverage if death results from participation in said sports.

I guess given the well-known tendency for insurers to exclude cave-diving, the interest is in making sure there are no untoward "surprises" in the event of cave-diving-related death.

That said, I just switched jobs, which gave me pause to consider life insurance arrangements again... I think something like 33 states have legislation about 2/3-year exclusionary clauses, primarily for suicide. Seems like cave-divers and other "extreme" sports enthusiasts should not be subjected to more stringent rules than that which apply to suicide...?

Just a wayward thought. Great to hear that folks have found insurers who don't have a problem with diving.

[cavebob]

I am going through the process of looking for different life insurance rigt now. I have already been rejected by 2 companies and accepted by 2 with huge premium adders for cave diving. What companies have been cave diver friendly to those who have been able to get it.

[MengTze]

I went with ING. They did ask about diving and I had to fill in additional sheets which I answered truthfully. There was a follow up phone interview. They did not ask about cave diving nor decompression diving.

[matt_w]

Of course, this brings up the issue: why are we concerned about being covered when cave diving?

I thought this was a safe sport for cautious and trained cave divers.

That said: the comments thus far are interesting.

Richard

Richard,

I think most people want to ensure they are insured and their family is protected regardless of what they are doing. If I die of a heart attack in a cave, I would want to be sure my family was still protected.

My current insurance through my employer and a little supplemental from umm I think it is ING does not exclude anything but suicide (in the first two years).

[Kaneo]

if you die from a heart attack in a cave then you would be covered even if the cave diving was excluded. i guy i know had something like that happen while diving and they paid the full amount.

[bigdave]

One thing to look at is AD&D. It's cheap, and I've not noticed diving exclusions.

David