Are you wondering if you received the best life insurance rate possible because you were table rated?
Life insurance risk ratings raise many questions for consumers…This guide answers those questions and much more.
This life insurance table rating guide covers:
- What are table ratings and how do they work?
- Will other companies offer me a better rate?
- Which life insurer is best for my health issue?
- Should I accept a table rated offer?
- Are table ratings negotiable?
- Life Insurance Table Ratings Chart
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What are table ratings and how do they work?
Chances are that if you’re reading this article about life insurance table ratings, you probably received a substandard offer from a life insurance company and you’re not happy with it.
Life insurance table ratings are used in high risk life insurance underwriting when you have a health issue that increases your risk above a standard risk.
Table ratings are numbered (1-16) or lettered (A-P) with each rating adding approximately 25%.
Important for you to know is that each life insurer views your health differently.
You may receive a table rated offer with one company, and a standard rate with another.
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Our life insurance underwriting section covers all aspects of underwriting, and our life insurance FAQs provide you with additional explanations of the following.
Life insurance table ratings vary from one life insurance carrier to another.
In fact, some life insurance carriers may assign higher ratings than another company…for the same health issue!
Why pay more for life insurance if you don’t have to?
This is where an independent agent who specializes in life insurance underwriting will save you a bundle!
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Life Insurance Table Ratings Chart
Insurance companies use numbers (1-16) or letters (A-P) when table ratings are added to your rate.
Numbers and letters are interchangeable.
Most life insurance companies use 25% per life insurance table rating, although a few companies including Prudential use different table rate percentages.
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Life Insurance Table Rating Price Sample
Most companies with a couple of exceptions use a rating of 25% per table.
Will other companies offer me a better rate?
There are carriers that specialize in certain types of health issues…if you end up with the wrong company, you end up paying more than you need to.
The following factors may help with your life insurance:
- Table Ratings Vary – Table ratings add 25% per table, but underwriting varies by company.
- Health Conditions – Insurance companies view health issues differently which may result in better rates at one company vs. another.
- Standard vs Standard Plus – some companies base table ratings off a standard rate while other companies use a more favorable standard plus rate to determine price.
- It Pays to Reevaluate – Even if you just paid for a policy. We can shop for a better rate and replace the existing coverage with a new policy.
- Most companies refund the unused portion of your premium paid so it’s generally not a problem to get your money back from the old company.
- Table Ratings are Negotiable – Positive factors, favorable medical checkups, the passage of time, etc. may help you get a better rate.
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Which life insurer is best for my health issue?
The life insurer that is best for your health issue will depend on the condition itself, your control of that condition and your current health.
We’ll help you narrow the life insurance companies down to the companies that understand your history and will offer you the most favorable underwriting based on your history.
Some examples of health conditions that may be rated include:
- Getting Life Insurance with Heart Conditions
- Endocrine Disorders Life Insurance
- Can I Get Life Insurance with GI Problems?
- MS, strokes, epilepsy
- Mental Health Life Insurance – Everything You Need to Know
- Respiratory Diseases Life Insurance
- HIV Life Insurance
Other factors that may impact underwriting include any family history of a similar health issue that you have.
What about cancer histories?
Most cancer histories when rated, will receive a flat extra expense rather than a table rating.
The condition you have, the control over that condition, the completeness of your medical records and follow-ups are all factors that may help or hurt your underwriting.
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Table Rating Expectations
Many times, the first contact we receive is from someone who just received a table rated offer through another agent and were not expecting it.
Many agents do not understand how life insurance underwriting works, and end up quoting you rates that you were never going to get in the first place.
The reason why our approach works is that we take the time upfront to understand your medical history.
We use a Quick Quote process that allows us to receive underwriting feedback from multiple life insurers upfront…BEFORE you complete an application.
The benefit to you is that you receive accurate quotes upfront from companies that are competitive for your health issues.
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Should I accept a table rated offer?
If you’ve been table rated with your current company, you have a number of options available, but speak with us first before you make your decision.
Some of your options include:
- Decline the Offer – You may decline the policy.
- Accepting the Offer – You may accept the offer as received.
- Accept the offer temporarily – You may need the coverage now, but think there are better rates elsewhere. In this case, you may accept a policy on a monthly or quarterly basis while we re-shop for you. If we succeed, you simply switch to the new company.
- Reduce the Coverage/ Change the Terms – Once approved, we can usually reduce the face amount, or change the term length in order to reduce the premium.
It is usually best to accept the offer you have initially, and let us work on getting you a better offer.
The reason why is that there are some instances where the insured’s medical condition is more significant than thought and the original offer may end up being the best offer.
A good example of accepting a rated policy temporarily is for elevated liver enzymes. Many times when liver enzymes elevate, it will be due to a temporary issue, exercise or medications. It’s a good idea to accept coverage now and replace later as if it’s truly a liver issue, you may end up being uninsurable.
For the short period of time you might have to keep the original offer, it will be worth it.
We’ll let you know if we think better offers exist elsewhere.
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Are table ratings negotiable?
Life insurance underwriting programs called table shave programs may be a great deal for you even if you want term life insurance.
Life insurance companies are always looking to sell more universal life insurance policies…and in some cases you could end up with a better price on universal life than on term life insurance.
Here’s how:
A table shave program reduces the table rating assessed if you buy universal life insurance rather than term life insurance.
While we are big believers in term life insurance, there are times when a table shave program may end up costing you less money than a term life insurance policy.
Here’s a typical table rating example:
Imagine that you apply for term life insurance and receive a Standard Table 3 rating.
The Table 3 rating adds 75% to the standard life insurance rates but this same company is willing to issue a universal life insurance policy to you at their “standard” rate.
When you compare prices between the term life insurance vs. universal life insurance at a standard life insurance rate, the universal life insurance may end up being similar in price to a term life policy, while providing a longer death benefit guarantee to you.
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Table Shave Programs Available
Healthy Credits Program – This company has 16 healthy credit factors available.
If you meet any 4 of the 16 health credits, this company will improve your rate class by one rate class. Applies to term life insurance and universal life insurance policies.
Good Health Credit Program – This company has a program available for both term life insurance and universal life insurance programs.
Proposed insureds rated up to a Table “D” (100% markup) may qualify for standard life insurance rates.
HealthStyle Program – This company will give you a standard life insurance rate if you are table rated up to a Table “C” (75% markup).
They will do this for their universal life insurance policies only.
Fit Underwriting Credit Program – This company will consider term life insurance or universal life insurance insureds rated up to a Table 4 for their standard life insurance rates.
There are a number of life insurance companies available with slight variations to the above that will consider table rated insureds for their standard rates.
We’ll show which life insurance company is best for you based on your specific health.
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What Do We Know About Life Insurance Table Ratings?
Our expertise is life insurance underwriting, having the experience and knowledge to provide accurate quotes to you based on your unique health history.
We spend the time with you upfront asking you underwriting questions and gathering accurate information so that you get a realistic life insurance quote the first time!
We will then shop out to companies for feedback and will provide that to you so that you can make an informed decision about your life insurance choices available.
Our database contains the underwriting information, guidelines, manuals, case histories and more that allow us to provide you with quotes from the correct life insurance companies so that you receive your best rate.
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We look forward to working with you.
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