Red Flag Medications in Underwriting: Part 2

The U. S. population is the most medicated population in the history of medicine. Over 2 billion legal prescriptions were written in 2001 and the number is expected to continue to increase. A significant portion of these medications (greater than 30%) is taken by persons 65 and older.

It is essential to ask every client about his or her medications. However, knowing the medications is only the first step. You also need to know what they mean in the specialized world of underwriting. Normal medical references (i.e. PDR) offer little insight into the underwriting implications of a given medication. Life insurance and LTC agents need to develop other resources that can help immediately clarify the impact of a medication on the underwriting outcome. In simple terms, an underwriting reference needs to answer the following question: does this medication mean preferred, standard, rated or decline?

The following groups of medications cause significant problems (potential declines) for both the life and LTC agent. This list offers both agents and support staff a key reference on drugs that are common to an aging population. In next month’s issue, a third list of problematic medications in terms of underwriting will be reviewed.

Pharmacy Tutor is RiskTutor’s most used feature because it provides a color-coded system (red, yellow and green) for assessing the impact of any drug on underwriting. Click here to see a demo: http://www.risktutor.com/demo/pharm_tutor_new.html

Underwriting Comment: The utilization of medications in the treatment of Alzheimer’s Disease has changed in the last few years. Medications such as Aricept, Exelon and Reminyl are initiated in the early phase of the disease. In some cases there may only be strong family history combined with mild short-term memory loss that warrants the use of these medications. While these clients do present underwriting problems, it is incorrect to assume they are uninsurable for life insurance. For LTC coverage, the above medications mean an immediate decline.

Reference: See these medical sites for additional information on dementia and Alzheimer’s dementia:

May 2000 Newsletter (good overview of Alzheimer’s Disease and underwriting) http://www.risktutor.com/demo/may_00.html

Alzheimer’s Disease Fact Sheet: http://www.alzheimers.org/pubs/adfact.html

Underwriting Comment: Aside from medications like Novadex, Femara and Arimidex, which are used to prevent the reoccurrence of breast cancer, clients taking any of the above drugs for the treatment of cancer are uninsurable for individual coverage for life insurance and LTC insurance. Clients with a history of cancer are insurable once they demonstrate they are in "remission" (i.e. cancer free) for a period of time (i.e. between two and five years depending on the type and degree of involvement of the cancer). The above medications, aside from the three indicated, all verify that the client is not in remission from their cancer.

Reference: The following link provides access to one of the most complete databases on the various types of cancers from the National Library of Medicine. It covers all aspects of diagnosis, treatment and prognosis.

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/cancers.html