A life insurance agent wrote a $25,000 life insurance policy on a nine-month-old infant. In applying for coverage, the parents responded “No” to the following question:

Has any person proposed for insurance consulted or been seen by a physician, psychiatrist or medically licensed practitioner in the last five years, or has any such person ever been declined for life insurance or offered a policy with an extra premium charge?

Three months into the policy, the infant passed away. Upon investigation of the claim, the insurer discovered that the child had been confirmed as having a terminal condition within days of the application being submitted for coverage. The parents had been advised of the probability of their child’s condition on February 22, and received test results confirming the diagnosis on March 3. They then applied for life insurance on the child on March 8. When the claim was tendered later that year, the life insurer denied the claim due to the material misrepresentation on the application.

Much has been published in the mainstream media about the fact that disability income insurance claims have increased dramatically over the last several years, along with a disproportionate number of inappropriate claims denials. And the claims departments of many insurance companies have been told to “tighten-up.” Claims that would have once been routinely paid are now being denied due to industry trends, misunderstandings, lack of consumer knowledge, inability to contest, and lower returns on investment.

The government released interim final regs aimed at creating a system of checks and balances for internal and external appeals processes of health claims.

CDC used 2009 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System survey data to update estimates of national and state-specific obesity prevalence.

In 2007, no state had met the Healthy People 2010 objective to reduce obesity prevalence among adults to 15%.

QuickStats from the CDC's MMWR.

Have you had a case declined because of a lack of insurable interest or insufficient financial justification? If you answered yes, you have experienced the other hurdle to getting your case issued—namely, meeting the financial underwriting factors established by the life insurance carrier.

Benign prostatic hypertrophy (BPH) is an inevitable result of aging in men. An overgrowth of the prostate gland with either benign enlarged tissue or small nodules, the prevalence of this condition goes from about 20 percent in men 40 years old to almost 90 percent when they reach their 70s.

BPH, while not cancer, can cause problems with both obtrusive symptoms for men as well as possibly even urinary blockage and chronic kidney disease in more extreme cases. It is a very common condition that is encountered while underwriting male lives.