Back in mid July I started working on a life insurance case for a young man with type 1 diabetes. He had already discovered how easy it is to find a company to decline him, but the picture he painted was not one that led to a logical decline.

He had the same strikes against him that most with type 1, insulin dependent diabetics, have. He was diagnosed at an early age so, no matter how you shook it out, he was going to be dealing with type 1 for most of his life. He would have to work as hard at controlling his diabetes as most folks work at their full time jobs, always just a slip up away from complicating things with more risk factors.

But he was doing a bang up job. He took his diabetes seriously from the time he was diagnosed, not an easy thing for someone in their teens. He monitored himself regularly and administered treatment just as be had been instructed by the his doctor. He didn’t fall into any bad habits. There’s always a temptation when part of your life has been reconfigured to fudge a little bit here and make up for it a little bit over there.

Nuf said. He is a model type 1 diabetes patient. We had several offers, and while very highly rated, at his early 30’s age, affordable for what he wanted to accomplish for his family. After all was said and done, exam examined and records reviewed, the company found that he actually presented less of a mortality risk than originally thought and the policy was approved at a better rate.

Bottom line. Like virtually all health issues, underwriting is looking at what has been done to negate or at least decrease the mortality risk in higher risk cases. In lower risk cases they check to make sure that other risk factors aren’t creeping in that can complicate things. Ultimately, and I know this seems a stretch if your experience has been with the wrong company, they are truly looking for a way to give a fair and affordable approval. This is a classic case where they did exactly that.