Live Insurance and Diving

[KC_Scubabunny]

As many of you know, I am expecting a baby in December so my husband and I decided to up the amount of life insurance that we have. Our insurance agent came over last night to review policies with us. I was extremely surprised to find that our participation in recreational scuba diving is putting us in an "at risk" category and our insurance will be significantly higher than a person with the same health profile that is a non-diver.

We were asked a lengthy questionaire that included certification agency, current certification held, number of dives in the last 12 months, total number of dives, maximum dive depth, have we ever dove solo and whether we dived in lakes, quarries, ocean or other.

We are normal recreational divers who don't push limits and always dive with a buddy but the fact that we both had maximum dive depths below 100 feet even though we are both certified for this depth, we were classified as high risk.

In the big scheme of things, this means that we both have to pay approximately $11.00 more per month a piece for our life insurance than we would have had to pay as non-divers.

I guess the DAN statistics about diving being safer than bowling haven't reached the insurance actuaries yet.

Just thought I would share.

KC_Scubabunny

 

[bottom_sucker]

First off, congrats on "Great Expectations", haven't been on board in long while.

Second, I've gone through several life insurance companie over the past 10 years as job changes have caused me to sometimes get my own coverage. At least 2 of these companies have asked about SCUBA diving specifically in their risk assessment, so it's not too unusual.

My $.02

Dave

 

[Butch103]

this is not un heard of the industry. I am a licensed Level II insurance agent in Ontario, and the life insurance companies in Canada are just in the past 5 yrs coming out of the ice ages. These historically are archaic companies, ( and incidentally some of the most wealthy) slow to change....Hopefully we can and organizations such as DAN can help change this thinking.

Now most importantly congrats on your new family member due.....


Another new diver to add to the fold.......

 

[Rick Murchison]

This is one of the classic rip-offs in the insurance industry - single out a small group whose far distant history has a perception of risk and hammer 'em for extra bucks. Scuba is especially attractive because it doesn't in fact have as much risk as staying home and stuffing your face with burgers, so it's just money in the insurance company's pockets.
There is zero actuarial data to support an increase in insurance rates for scuba divers.
They are thieves.
Rick

 

[Butch103]

Rick Murchison once bubbled...
This is one of the classic rip-offs in the insurance industry - single out a small group whose far distant history has a perception of risk and hammer 'em for extra bucks. Scuba is especially attractive because it doesn't in fact have as much risk as staying home and stuffing your face with burgers, so it's just money in the insurance company's pockets.
There is zero actuarial data to support an increase in insurance rates for scuba divers.
They are thieves.
Rick

Could you be more percise in your feelings....

 

[Cave Diver]

I believe there are some companies that specifically offer life insurance for divers. You might do a search on it. I thought I recalled hearing at one time that DAN offered life insurance as well. Might be worth a call to them to find out, or see if they might perhaps direct you to a more 'diver friendly' insurance company in regards to your life insurance.

 

[otter-cat]

Rick Murchison once bubbled...
This is one of the classic rip-offs in the insurance industry - single out a small group whose far distant history has a perception of risk and hammer 'em for extra bucks. Scuba is especially attractive because it doesn't in fact have as much risk as staying home and stuffing your face with burgers, so it's just money in the insurance company's pockets.
There is zero actuarial data to support an increase in insurance rates for scuba divers.
They are thieves.
Rick

I agree completely at heart. I'm guessing, however, that any questionaire for insurance that is as thorough as the one KC_Scubabunny described, including "certification agency, current certification held, number of dives in the last 12 months, total number of dives, maximum dive depth, have we ever dove solo and whether we dived in lakes, quarries, ocean or other" would also include detailed questions on weight, exercise, cholesterol, and other health-related factors, which means that someone who is staying home and stuffing burgers in their face probably also gets their rates increased. (If not, then I find the behavior of the insurance company even more outrageous!!)

So it comes down to whether or not someone who dives is statistically more likely to die at an earlier age than someone with equivalent health and lifestyle who does not dive, and if so, is the amount of the increase in the insurance premium proportional to the increase in risk. Since scuba inherently involves some risk greater than not diving, it seems at least possible that insurance companies make slightly less money on scuba divers on the whole without increases in premiums. (Other non-diving but supposed "high risk" activities presumeably garner their own questionaires and rate hikes.)

Unfortunately, I suspect that the insurance companies increase the rates for scuba divers far more than is justified by the risks associated with diving. This is what makes the rate hikes "criminal" in my mind. But without the actual data, it's hard to prove.

Does anyone know whether insurance companies are legally required to justify such rate increases with hard data? And if they do, are there any laws which control proportionally how much they can increase rates for those cases? Or can they just do whatever they want, regardless of whether there is any data to support their classification of divers as high-risk policy-holders?

otter-cat

 

[Rick Murchison]

Butch103 once bubbled...


Could you be more percise in your feelings....

Sure... but not in polite company.
Rick

 

[JustAddWater]

I too was surprised when I didn't qualify for a premium membership policy because I dive. During the interview I was asked if I dive, how many times a year I dive, if I dive below 40 feet, do I plan on diving below 40 feet in the future.....
I agree with you Rick, and please continue not to mince words on our account.

 

[Drew Sailbum]

The internet is your friend when looking for life insurance. I found my 20-year term policy over the net.

Yes they asked detailed questions about my diving, but in the end I got the preferred rates. And that was considering that I have made well over 100 dives per year for many years, and was starting work as a dive instructor.