Fighting the Life Insurance Company

my wife wants to get life insurance since we have a new baby. life insurance guy told me i was too overweight and it’ll raise my life insurance premiums 20-25%.

i’m no skinny bastard, but i’m sure as hell not sloppy fat either. i have lifted HEAVY and hard for a little less than a year to gain some weight. i’m 255lbs and 6’1".

does anyone have experience fighting this kind of muscle prejudice. in any case, i’m not gonna’ lose 70lbs (like the insurance charts say i need to)

sb

walk into the insurance companies headquarters in a speedo and some protan and prove em wrong.

take pics.

[quote]MikiB wrote:
walk into the insurance companies headquarters in a speedo and some protan and prove em wrong.

take pics.[/quote]

I actually had to do very similar to your suggestion. When going for a mortgage they realised that my bmi was very high and started trying to push up my insurance premiums. After meeting with a rep from my insurance company and showing her what I got the premiums were lowered to a sensible amount.

[quote]mopar_nocar wrote:
my wife wants to get life insurance since we have a new baby. life insurance guy told me i was too overweight and it’ll raise my life insurance premiums 20-25%.

i’m no skinny bastard, but i’m sure as hell not sloppy fat either. i have lifted HEAVY and hard for a little less than a year to gain some weight. i’m 255lbs and 6’1".

does anyone have experience fighting this kind of muscle prejudice. in any case, i’m not gonna’ lose 70lbs (like the insurance charts say i need to)

sb

[/quote]

Different companies have different BMI’s. Find a broker who understands what you are dealing with.

I am 5’7 and walk around 210-215 and got a preferred rate. It just took a little time. I think I have the majority of my insurance with GE affiliate which name escapes me right now.

Have you met with your underwriter in person? Does this policy require an exam?

If you are truly in good shape, you will get the best rate by selecting a policy with the longest underwriting procedure (rule of thumb).

Different companies do have different bmi’s, and they also allow the underwriter to use his own discretion. An intelligent underwriter will look a littler deeper than bmi. Shop around, if this company wants to classify you as obese, I’m sure you can find another that will classify you as you deserve to be.

Is this a whole life or term policy?

I remember my dad was significantly “overweight” (6’3", 240) according to the insurance companies, but he had 11% BF, much lower than they expected.

I will probably have the same issue. the doctor’s chart says I should weigh between 180 and 210 (I’m 6’6" and weigh 245).

can you clean up your diet for a couple months and try again? Lose some fat, not just weight.

Have you checked to see if your employer offers insurance coverage as part of the medical and dental coverage. If so this is probably the best time to enroll since most plans are probably in their open enrollment periods.
Also look at other insurance companies and go on a diet to reduce bodyfat. You did not say how much bodyfat you have but unless it is already low losing some would make the amount of muscle you have more obvious to the insurance company.