We have all received these from an insurance company.  Either via email or snail mail, the impact is the same - something has gone very wrong on your life insurance case.  What separates the amateurs from pros is knowing how to avoid this in the first place, and then what to do about it when the inevitable happens and a "new finding" comes up during the underwriting process.

Underwriting by discovery

This has to be the simplest mistake I see time and again.  For any number of reasons, the initial interview of the client fails to uncover one or more facts about the insured that are rather pertinent to the underwriting process.  I'm not sure if it is an issue of willing blindness, lack of experience, or something else entirely, but nothing sets an underwriter's teeth on edge like the feeling that they are not being told "the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth".

What happens once that feeling sets in?  The microscope comes out.  Little items suddenly become serious issues.  Doctors start popping up out of nowhere.  Questionnaires need to be filled out.  The emails fly fast and furious.  MIB codes are pulled.  And with every additional question and corresponding delay, everybody becomes more and more cranky.  I mean everybody - the client, the agent, the case manager, the underwriter - the list goes on and on.  As they become more and more cranky, the probability of a successful outcome drops precipitously.   

So what is the solution?  Rather than asking a few questions to make sure the client has a pulse and then firing in that application, take a few extra minutes to knock out a full health profile.  We all know the questions (if you don't, I am sure we can help you figure it out!), and we all know it will probably save time in the end.  I call it slowing down to speed up, and it is always a winning strategy for writing a life case.

Of course, despite the fact that we have done everything right, there are still those surprises that come up on the labs or the phone interview.  After we are done smacking our heads in frustration about the client changing their answers on us or the obscure test that came back abnormal, it is time to figure out what to do.  This is another time when a proven process makes a big difference.  From something as fundamental as making sure that we control all of the medical data (exam, aps) to something as complex as knowing which carrier uses which underwriting manual (or which can pick and choose depending on the risk!), we are uniquely positioned to guide you through the second underwriting.   

The result is your case rising, Phoenix-like, from the ashes and becoming a beautiful deposit in your bank account.  I get misty-eyed just thinking about it!