Life Insurance and Diving

As I recently purchased my first home I have discovered the intricacies of insurance and diving. I have some coverage through work which gives me excellent disability coverage but no where near enough life insurance now that I have a scary big mortgage.

Because I have already been deeper then 100' and plan to continue doing so (I'm signed up for my adv Nitrox/deco course in July), the insurance company wants a crapload of extra money on my otherwise perfect and discount ready application. Diving above 100' would've be underwritten for me without extra charges. ...My timing sucks, had I done this appication 6 months ago my normal recreational diving would've been covered and the deeper diving would be covered when it came.

I'm wondering if anyone here is aware of some great insurance out there for divers. I'm considering the DAN group plan but the 200G max really isn't enough with a mortgage considerably larger then that and the possibility of kids in the "relatively" near future so I'm still left trying to figure out what my options are for the remainder.

DryGear:

Because I have already been deeper then 100' and plan to continue doing so (I'm signed up for my adv Nitrox/deco course in July), the insurance company wants a crapload of extra money on my otherwise perfect and discount ready application. Diving above 100' would've be underwritten for me without extra charges. ...My timing sucks, had I done this appication 6 months ago my normal recreational diving would've been covered and the deeper diving would be covered when it came.

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Check with an insurance agent. Not all companies have restrictions on SCUBA.

Terry

DryGear:

My timing sucks, had I done this appication 6 months ago my normal recreational diving would've been covered and the deeper diving would be covered when it came.

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Actually you are quite fortunate. If you take out life insurance first and then subsequently take up a "dangerous" activity later, it can void your life insurance if you fail to notify your insurers. People rarely do so, and it is a fairly common line of defence for insurers, especially where death relates to said activity.

Web Monkey:

Check with an insurance agent. Not all companies have restrictions on SCUBA.

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Agree with that. I specifically asked my insurer about diving, and they told me that there was no additional premia for it. That was Met Life, but it was back in 2000, so I don't know if they still have the same terms and conditions.

Thanks for the replies guys, I will check MetLife out.

I am dealing with an insurance agent and we haven't found anything better in Canada so I'm looking south of the border now to see what I can find. I'm hoping some people here might have a recommendation for a company they are using?

In the early 70's I decided that I wanted to be a pilot so I started taking flying lessons. My insuranceagent caught wind of it and I recieved a bill stating that my life insurance was going up 300%. I got to thinking: Here I am, single and no dependents. Why the **** am I paying for life insurance anyway? So I cancelled the policy and used the money for flying lessons.

Well, I know that here at State Farm we have a question about whether or not you'll be doing any sky diving, scuba diving or flying in the next 6 months (I think it's 6, may be more). It's not going to stop you from being a prospect but it can raise your premium. My theory on it was "well, I don't know". If you answer no and then you do end up doing X activity but didn't have it planned at the time of the application then there's not much they can really do since they key word here is "planning".

There's ways around it but you have to be careful. I'm too much of a chicken to lie but maybe that's because I work in the industry. LOL!

As a former life insurance agent, life contracts are written & can not be vacated based on subsequent life changes. For example, if you get a contract & you don't have high blood pressure at the time & later it changes on you, the company is by contract obligated still. The same is true of changes in behaviors. This is why every agent I ever knew said to get the insurance while you are young & don't have a whole lot of bad behaviors.

Go shopping. I have a half a dozen policies and they cover my PSD diving which is on the extream side. So go shop arround.

Gary D.

My insurance agents were very keen to estabish what kind of diving I did.

Once I checked SCUBA as an activity they started asking about gear, depth, penetration..stuff like that.

Use an online quoting service which lets you see how much diving influences your rate. Unfortunately diving beyond recreational limits is likely to increase your rates with every company.

Be truthful and complete in answering the question asked but do not volunteer information which is not asked. It is a fine line to walk. If you are asked "What is the average depth of your dives?" your answer might be shallower than the average maximum depth of your dives and certainly would be shallower than the deepest you have ever dove.

There may be a period of time after a policy is issued in which the insurer can contest paying benefits under the policy if you made a material misrepresentation - you lied about something which would have caused the insurance company to refuse to issue the policy had they known the truth. Not every lie (or honest mistake) would rise to the level of a material misrepresentation. When asked medical questions you are honestly not certain about, a good reply might be "I can't recall, but you can ask my doctor. He is Dr Smith and his number is (345)-555-1212."

In the state of Wisconsin the period of contestabliity was two years. If you lied through your teeth but the insurer did not find out until more than two years after your policy was issued then the insurer had to pay benefits under the policy. The only exception was if you lied about your age the insurer could reduce the amount of benefits paid to reflect how much coverage the premium paid would provide given the actual age. Wisconsin insurance law was widely considered to strongly favor the consumer.

Insurance is regulated on a state level in the United States. The system may be similar in Canada but I don't really know.