My regrets about Insurance

In a previous post, I have shared with you all on how me and my husband selected our Insurance provider. As you may recall, I have mentioned that he just paid his 4^th annual premium and I will also be paying my 4^th annual premium soon. You may be wondering why we don't have our premiums paid at the same time if we applied for our insurance together. Well, the reason is because when we initially applied, I was REJECTED and he got approved.

You heard it right, at the time that I was ready to get an insurance, they are now the ones who REJECTED me. I was shocked, disappointed and sad because I thought it will just go smoothly, and we will just pay our premiums.

REJECTION

But why am I rejected? During our initial application for insurance, my account was selected for random medical examination. It will consist of some test and health interview to be conducted by a health provider by the insurance company at their own cost. Unfortunately, exactly a day prior to the scheduled medical examination, I was diagnosed with a cyst. The diagnosis was a shocking news for me because all along, I thought everything is fine and I am healthy. I’ve never been a sickly person and has only been hospitalized once back in my college days due to dengue fever. So, during the medical examination, I had to disclose the diagnosis about my condition. I had to be transparent because I don’t want my application to be approved, pay for it, and in the end not able to utilize it because of an undisclosed diagnosis in my medical records.

Getting an insurance has an application process wherein the insurance company will review for approval the application of the individual or the person to be insured. They have what they call the “underwriter” who assess the application and determine the risk of the person applying for an insurance. In this case, they are evaluating your insurability. Thus, being diagnosed with a cyst of which we don’t know yet whether it is benign or malignant greatly affects my insurability. So, they rejected my initial application in view of my medical history and my pending surgery, and advised that they can re-evaluate the application three (3) months after my surgery.

Saddened by my diagnoses and rejection of my initial application for insurance, I tried to consult the other insurance company in my options, and unfortunately, they provided the same information. The probability of my application being approved with my current diagnoses not being identified as benign or malignant would be low. Even if I try to apply, I might just be wasting both my time and the Financial Advisors time since it might also be rejected.

Left with no other option, I had to wait and undergo surgery first to have the cyst removed and checked via biopsy to determine that it is benign, and then re-apply three (3) months after the surgery. In the second application process, I also have to present all hospitalization documents pertaining to my surgery and the biopsy reports indicating that it is indeed benign.

WAITING TIME

Waiting for the surgery and waiting for three (3) months after the surgery was also a challenge. Why? Because the annual premium for an insurance proposal is based on the age of the person to be insured. When we age, our insurability is getting low and our risks go higher. And so, the premium for insurance also goes higher. If my surgery and the three (3) months grace period goes beyond my next birthday, then my Financial Advisor has to create another proposal with an adjustment in my age and a premium higher than the previous proposal.

Of course, getting the insurance was not the main reason why me and my husband decided that I should do the surgery. The surgery was done mainly for health reasons. It just so happen that the surgery happened a few months before my next birthday, and of course why not take the opportunity to submit the insurance application again prior to it. So, in order to avoid having my proposal adjusted and having a higher premium, it meant that I had to re-apply exactly three (3) months after my surgery and have enough leeway for the review process to take place.

 

Luckily, a day after my 29^th birthday, my Financial Advisor advised that my application was approved and I was required to pay the initial premium on the same day. As the application was submitted prior my birthday, there were no adjustments applied in my application and initial premium was retained. 😊

 

REGRETS

With the initial application being rejected and the tight deadline to submit the second approval prior my next birthday, it made me realize one great thing that I truly regret with insurance. It was why I did not apply for an insurance sooner in my life. Looking back, my Sun Life Financial Advisor actually provided my first proposal back in 2015 at the same time that I opened my mutual fund account with her.

 

At the time, I was only 26 years old and my annual premium was only around P25, 000 for a P1M Life Insurance and an additional Accidental Death, Dismemberment and Disablement Benefit (ADDD) of P500, 000. If I had applied back then, the probability of getting approved was higher since I am young, and my insurability is still high. As for the annual premium, it was also lower compared to how much it was at the time that I finally got my insurance at 28 years old. If I had also applied back then, I won’t have the problem of being rejected due to a cyst that I knew nothing about at the time and will only be discovered later on in life.

 

That is also the thing about life, we don’t know exactly what the future hold. We don’t know if we are still as healthy as how we are feeling today and we don’t know for how long we shall live. It is a reality and it makes me value more the thought of having an insurance, and actually adding an additional rider of Critical Illness to it. I’m not saying that I will have a Critical Illness in the future and I’m praying not to, but it is better to be prepared for that uncertainty than being unprepared when it happens.

Luckily, despite the initial rejection and delays, I was still able to get my insurance for our protection and savings. It might have taken me awhile with some regrets and realizations, but it was a lesson that I learned and I was happy that it turned out well in the end. 😊