High BMI

Hi everyone, we are back with an insurance underwriting consideration that I cannot believe we haven’t covered before: high BMI! We’ve talked about BMI in the past, but not done a specific episode, which is so bizarre as it’s something that I think every adviser has come across at some point.High BMI affects life insurance, critical illness cover and income protection applications in different ways. Depending upon the BMI there can be ratings to the premium, the need for medicals, application declines and specialist insurers, popping up at different times. BMI tables are very outdated, however they are one of the simplest ways for insurers to get an overall sense of a person’s health quickly, which can speed up insurance applications.The key takeaways:A high BMI is linked to the development of diabetes, heart attack, cancer, stroke and many long term income protection claimsBMI assessments can work brilliant if you’re a white european male born in the early 1800s (aka they are very outdated and don’t take into account different genders or ethnicities!)Three cases studies of arranging protection insurance for people living with a high BMI, including someone with a BMI of 83I am back next time with Jo Miller from the Income Protection Taskforce to discuss what is going on in the IP world. I’m a huge fan of IP, it’s arguably the most useful protection insurance for someone working in the UK, and it can be moulded to meet your client’s needs in so many ways.Remember, if you are listening to this as part of your work, you can claim a CPD certificate on our website.