Quick/Silly Question: Any benefit to crash diet for insurance exams?

[ChristopherMD20]

Is there any financial incentive to losing weight prior to exams for Life and Disability Insurance? I am pretty healthy age 30 height 5'11" and 175lbs. I am in good shape but wasn't sure if there was an incentive to decreasing my BMI temporarily for lower payment. I assume they use BMI as opposed to other measures like body fat % etc. No other health issues besides a knee surgery resulting from my football playing days.

 

Thanks!

[WallStreetPhysician]

I'm not an insurance agent, but I believe your rates don't get any lower if you have a lower BMI as long as you have no medical conditions. It's like your credit score -- above a certain level you get the best rates and you don't get a benefit for having a higher score.

-WSP

[Tabaxus]

WallStreetPhysician wrote:

I’m not an insurance agent, but I believe your rates don’t get any lower if you have a lower BMI as long as you have no medical conditions. It’s like your credit score — above a certain level you get the best rates and you don’t get a benefit for having a higher score.

-WSP

Click to expand...

Any thoughts on what that threshold is?   Are you done as soon as you're in the "normal" range, or is it better to be in the middle of normal?

Considering bumping up my life and disability insurance significantly, so this has been on my mind.  I get the max I'm able to through my work without doing an incremental medical exam, but I don't think it's enough ($2M life, which I think I need to bump up to $5M... may or may not go and get more disability).

[ajm184]

You are age, height and weight appropriate.  If you work out 3 or 4 times a weeks and maintain some cardio ability, you'll be fine.  I recall when getting my first insurance policy that the recommendation was to not do any 'strenuous activities' 24 hours prior to the medical exam.  Literally walked into the exam 40 minutes after working out/running and obtained the highest rating.  The blood and urine samples seemed to be the things they were most concerned about.  Be truthful about the questionnaire, but don't read anything more into the questions than is being asked.

[The White Coat Investor]

Whatever you do don't work out just before. I did a bunch of weight lifting and had a little protein in my urine. Had to do the UA again.

[G]

When I got mine with USAA, there were definitely tiers based on BMI.  It would be helpful if I remembered the cutoffs, but I don't--sorry.

Although it sounds like AJM was ok, I agree with Jim not too work out too hard just beforehand trying to lose that extra water weight; in addition to urine, it'll probably jack your CK and Cr, putting you into the cost category of "Death Imminent" or somesuch.

[Scott at MD Financial Services]

Your height and weight would qualify you for the top rate class, nothing to worry about on that front.

[Zaphod]

You're fine at that weight, and in general for things like cholesterol it wont matter.

[climbhigh]

I quit drinking alcohol for a few weeks before my "exam" and lost about 10-15 lbs. I'm same age/height/weight as you. My main motivation was that my blood pressure was running a little high, but I ended up getting the best rates. Who knows if it actually helped. A buddy of mine got dinged for his liver enzymes being too high (he attributed it to alcohol).

[Jason Veirs]

Tabaxus wrote:

WallStreetPhysician wrote:

I’m not an insurance agent, but I believe your rates don’t get any lower if you have a lower BMI as long as you have no medical conditions. It’s like your credit score — above a certain level you get the best rates and you don’t get a benefit for having a higher score.

-WSP

Click to expand…

Any thoughts on what that threshold is?   Are you done as soon as you’re in the “normal” range, or is it better to be in the middle of normal?

Considering bumping up my life and disability insurance significantly, so this has been on my mind.  I get the max I’m able to through my work without doing an incremental medical exam, but I don’t think it’s enough ($2M life, which I think I need to bump up to $5M… may or may not go and get more disability).

Click to expand...

Every carrier has a different maximum weight threshold in order to qualify for their top Preferred Plus Non-Tobacco (PPNT) class. In the 5'11" example that the OP has given, most carriers will want you to be under 195-200lbs, in order to qualify for their PPNT Underwriting Class.

Of course, there are certain carriers such as John Hancock, Prudential, American General, etc., who have a more favorable build chart, which can end up saving you thousands of dollars over the life of the term policy - This is precisely why you only want to work with a broker who is extremely familiar with Underwriting and has all of the top carriers at their disposal.

In addition, there are also crediting programs which a few of the carriers offer, where they will allow you to upstream back into the top PPNT class, assuming there's only 1 knockout item keeping you from that specific Underwriting Class. Banner Life also has a unique program where they will automatically add on 1 inch to your height in order to help you meet the better Underwriting Class on the weight threshold.

Hope this helps!

[Jason Veirs]

The White Coat Investor wrote:

Whatever you do don’t work out just before. I did a bunch of weight lifting and had a little protein in my urine. Had to do the UA again.

Click to expand...

This is very good advice and something that we see quite often with people who are very physically active, which is why you will definitely want to refrain from heavy exercise at least 24hrs prior to your medical exam. We also tell clients to be cautious of taking supplements prior to their medical exams, as they can sometimes affect your LFTs (ie: Albumin, Bilirubin, Globulin, ALT, AST, ALP, GGT, etc.), and can end up throwing a monkey wrench into the situation, as certain insurance carriers really ding you if these metrics are out of whack.

With that being said, if there is an issue with Proteinuria, then the Underwriter will usually just re-order 2 additional UAs to be completed on separate days, which typically corrects the problem, but it's definitely a pain in the neck to have to do the additional UAs again.

[forouza1]

I recall BMI of 30 was a cutoff for Metlife.

[ACN]

I was running late at the hospital for my exam. So I ran from the OR across the hospital. Needless to say the first thing they took was BP and HR,it was high.. So they did it again at the end since I told them I ran here.

I got the second highest rating as my total cholesterol was 200, cutoff was 199. Agent said that cost me $50/year. /shrug

[StarTrekDoc]

Clearly no THC or smoking -- or even around folk second hand.  I've had a few patients pop positive on Continine as the screening for tobacco despite NO history of smoking -- and only risk factor was a recent trip to Vegas.

BMI is solid --  other typical variables are :  BP, glucose and cholesterol and UA dip.  -- check these prior to exam at a cash pay lab.  You're a doc, and can probably lower these in ways that probably isn't Kosher if you're looking to game the risk pool numbers.

 

[WallStreetPhysician]

Tabaxus wrote:

WallStreetPhysician wrote:

I’m not an insurance agent, but I believe your rates don’t get any lower if you have a lower BMI as long as you have no medical conditions. It’s like your credit score — above a certain level you get the best rates and you don’t get a benefit for having a higher score.

-WSP

Click to expand…

Any thoughts on what that threshold is?   Are you done as soon as you’re in the “normal” range, or is it better to be in the middle of normal?

Considering bumping up my life and disability insurance significantly, so this has been on my mind.  I get the max I’m able to through my work without doing an incremental medical exam, but I don’t think it’s enough ($2M life, which I think I need to bump up to $5M… may or may not go and get more disability).

Click to expand...

No, I'll have to defer to the insurance agents on this one.