Lab results often fit a pattern, since the body’s physiologic system is generally in sync with each of its organ systems. If heart, liver, kidneys or metabolic results are affected, there will generally be a pattern where tests rise in conjunction with each other. Then there are “outliers,” profiles where one test stands front and center out of the normal and without any lab value friends to put it in perspective.
Cognitive testing in life insurance is becoming more and more prevalent, particularly as the number of older age applicants grows. You can expect testing now as a routine at age 70 or older, and although the platform isn’t rigorous, it can derail an application almost irreversibly if performance is poor.
While it sounds like something Joe Friday of Dragnet or the FBI would do, medical surveillance involves the following of a condition before deciding whether or when to take a definitive action of treatment. The waiting period can precede a possible surgery, a medical intervention, or an institution of therapy that disrupts the status quo. That’s what surveillance truly is: Waiting and watching before deciding whether to take an action that will disrupt the status quo.
Liver fibrosis is the replacement of functioning hepatic tissue with fibrous tissue. Alcohol overuse, hepatitis of any kind, and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) often leave behind damage with not only an active process but one where compromise may persist long after the cause has been controlled or eradicated. Knowing how to assess liver fibrosis in the aftermath of these conditions is an important part of underwriting liver disease.
Blood taken from insurance examinations are subject to many possible influences. Delays in handling, processing, and different atmospheric conditions may causes changes to lab results as opposed to those you would avoid when the labs are processed locally.
Urine drug testing is a cornerstone of the overall testing in proposed insureds and yields a lot of valuable underwriting information. So how long do a lot of drugs stay in the system and at what time frame would they be likely to trigger a positive test?
Multiple endocrine neoplasias are inherited disorders that include a variety of combinations of endocrine and nonendocrine tumors and affect different endocrine glands. The diseases run in families enough so that genetic counseling is advised when any first degree relative is affected.
While grief and sadness may be normal physiologic responses to stressful situations, depression is not. Whether that depression translates into conditions that affect insurability or threaten a person’s well-being is always a difficult assessment for underwriter and clinician.
A proper handling and understanding of what the client and advisor need to present to underwriting is the difference between success and failure.
It sounds a bit flippant, yet it is a request that medical directors and underwriters see quite often. An informal application or quick quote comes in with a request about “history of brain tumor.” Or maybe a question of pancreatic cancer. The underwriter is expected to make an educated guess based on these minimal findings. All tumors truly aren’t created equal, and people have individualized responses to different abnormalities. The more information supplied the better chance there is for not only a placeable but a sustainable quote.
