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by Maria Serrano
Wednesday, May 6th, 2020
During a global health crisis like the coronavirus, you may start getting curious and shopping around for life insurance.
AMARILLO, Texas (KVII) — During a global health crisis like the coronavirus, you may start getting curious and shopping around for life insurance.
ABC 7 News spoke to a healthcare consultant and broker who tells us he’s seen more interest in the number of people reaching out to inquire about both life insurance for the first time and purchasing higher amounts.
“Life insurance is the one form of insurance that we're all guaranteed to use at some point,” said Josh Butler, president of Butler Benefits and Consulting. “That’s why I think it's just on people's minds more so during times of crisis.”
There are different motivations for people to purchase life insurance. Butler says most people he encounters are more interested in term policies like a 10-year or a 20-year term.
“An interesting thing that has happened in the life insurance market since COVID is some life insurance carriers have stopped selling 30-year term policies and only offered shorter terms like a 10 or 20-year term policy," said Butler. "But for the most part, it's smaller amounts, under $100,000 is where we've seen an uptick. It's people that are looking for things that would cover an end-of-life situation like funeral expenses and things of that nature.”
Life insurance applicants usually need an in-person medical exam whether this means drawing blood, checking for blood pressure, or having a mouth swab done.
“One of the things in the application process that we're seeing is it's gone a whole lot more virtual than it has been in the past," said Butler. "Instead of there being an in-person exam, they're just asking deeper questions about medical records and medical history than they have in the past. Primarily though, it's obtaining medical records and more extensive medical records from peoples' current doctors and specialists.”
When it comes to international travel, especially places that have been known for the outbreak and hotspots like China or Italy, or if you’ve been exposed to the virus, you can expect at least a 30-day postponement on your application.
“Now that's where it gets a little tricky because what defines exposure? Each company has its kind of guidelines," said Butler. "Each company is treating the pandemic a little bit differently. But the one almost universal thing is if you live in a household and let's say a parent, or a child or someone has been diagnosed with the with coronavirus, that's an automatic as well.”
Some insurance companies have also stopped selling life policies to older individuals and limited applications to people over 70 years old, to protect themselves from future losses.
“It's somewhat unfortunate, bu the laws of insurance are all about risk, so that's what they're looking at and the coronavirus has if you look at the data, has disproportionately affected the elderly community,” Butler said.
